Talking Toys

An exhibition of objects from Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop and responses from the ‘In-heritage Group’: Gabriele Brambilla, Jason Cleverly, Geoff Coupland, Peter Maloney, Colin Priest, Jar Sukthana, and Rachel Emily Taylor.

The ‘In-heritage Group’ was established over the pandemic by University of the Arts London academics and technicians from across the Design School at Camberwell, Chelsea & Wimbledon College of Arts, seeking to expand disciplinary research and knowledge exchange activity between heritage objects, sites, and settings to stir narratives in place.

‘Talking’ is tied to storytelling, communication, and conversation. As children, we talk to our toys and ventriloquise their wishes through our own voices. We change the pitch, intonation, and volume of our voices to compliment the toys’ imagined personalities.

In the ‘Talking Toys’ exhibition, the work is arguably silent. But there is a conversation occurring between the toys from Benjamin Pollock’s toyshop, which provided inspiration for the ‘in-heritage group’, alongside the new objects that have been made in response. They have been exhibited side-by-side in the shop display cabinet.

The exhibition could be considered as a ‘call-and-response’ between selected toys in the shop and the objects made by the In-heritage Group.

If the toys could talk, what would they say?

Taken from a text on Pollock's Toyshop website by Dr Rachel Emily Taylor, September 2023

Exhibition object description: B-Sprout Mask; Seasonal spectacles signal the rich plant-based history of Covent Garden Market and its head-carrying produce porters. Inspired by the array of character masks available in the toyshop, selected colourful papers and chain combine to celebrate a heroic leafy vegetable, the jolly Brussels sprout.

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