The Museum of Innocence at Somerset House

Strange but intriguing exhibition at Somerset House featuring 13 vitrines from the Museum of Innocence in Istanbul set up by Orhan Pamuk, the nobel-prize winning author.

Now I think I understand this but pardon me if I’ve got it a bit wrong as it’s complicated! His novel of the same name and the museum tell the fictional story of a romance through a selection of everyday day object which take on emotional significance. As far as I can tell the novel was partly written by finding objects which he them imagined into the story.

Whatever the reasoning these were fascinating small displays of objects arranged to reflect a chapter of the book. Not having read the book I didn’t understand the significance of the pieces but actually you started to make up your own stories around them. 

Closes on 3 April 2016.

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