The Horror Show: A Somerset House Special

'Horror not only allows us to voice our fears; it gives us the tools to stare them down and imagine a radically different future', writes the press release detailing Somerset House's latest exhibition The Horror Show!: A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain. Opening to the public on 27 October, the exhibition will explore the link between the shit show that is modern politics and flourishing creativity, all while identifying the interweaving thread that is horror.

From the rise of punk during Thatcher's Britain to the phantom that is modern witchcraft, the exhibition does not hold back. Tracing the last 50 years of creative rebellion, the show looks at how creatives of past and present have relied on the power of fright, using it to provoke, attack, rise up and stand tall. Reflecting on the anarchic alchemy of horror in all its grisly glory (its subversion, transgression and the supernatural), The Horror Show! includes over 200 artworks; many from past and present cultural figures with names like Noel Fielding, David Shrigley, Leigh Bowery and Judy Blame standing at the forefront of the exhibition.

Split into three acts - Monster, Ghost and Witch - each segment interprets a specific era through the lens of a classic horror archetype. Works like Guy Peellaert's David Bowie, Diamond Dogs (1974) as well as Noel Fielding's Post-Viral Fatigue (2022) flood this section which also includes names like Pam Hogg, Helen Chadwick and Leigh Bowery just as works by Cornelia Parker and Derek Jarman live amongst others in 'Ghost' and names like Leonora Carrington and Ruth Bayer makeup 'Witch'.

Charting the ups and downs, ins and outs of Britain, its creativity (and its messy politics), The Horror Show!: A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain is the exhibition we didn't know we needed.

The Horror Show!: A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain opens to the public at Somerset House on 27 October and will be on show until 19 February, 2023.