Clangers, Bagpuss & Co., Young V&A
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![An adult and child look at a showcase with various toys inside, including a large pink fluffy cat, a mouse in a ballet shoem mice standing on a model of a church organ, a wooden bird, and a doll in a rocking chair.]()
The best fun we have ever had.
Clangers, Bagpuss & Co, touring exhibition, Young V&A, Bethnal Green. Completed 2018.
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![Schoolchildren and adults mill around an airy museum atrium. A large minimal timber structure in the space houses the Clangers exhibition, and artefacts and photos are visible through the structure walls.]()
Clangers, Bagpuss & Co was the first exhibition to showcase the work of Smallfilms – the company of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, who created some of the best known children’s TV programmes of the 1950s, 60s and 70s including Pogles, Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog, Clangers and Bagpuss.
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![The entrance to a minimal timber structure with visitors looking at objects inside. On the left of the space, a white wall displays the title "Clangers, Bagpuss & Co" with line drawings of a creative workspace and framed photographs.]()
The minimal timber frame and exhibition design were inspired by the converted rural barn where Smallfilms was based, and the creativity that thrived within it. Our primary focus was ensuring that the original objects, puppets and artwork took centre stage, with opportunities for visitors to engage not only with these treasured artefacts but with the creative process too.
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![Six schoolchildren with purple & blue coats play with iPads on a table with their backs to us. Behind them a white wall is decorated with line drawings of a lamp, spraypaints, pencils and piles of books, and a framed painting of a forest and castle.]()
Interactive opportunities across the exhibition supported individual and group engagement, and a dynamic and inclusive experience. The large line-drawn illustrations on the walls were taken from objects in the Smallfilms barn, to create a sense of a creative working space. Objects and artefacts were displayed in showcases on the tables at an accessible height for all visitors. The modular display structures allowed for flexibility in touring and future re-use of the units.
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![An iPad displayed at an angle on a wooden table. Beneath it is a long strip of paper with a coloured drawing of hills. The iPad screen shows the same scene with a train going by.]()
We made reproductions of the original cut-out figures used in the filming of Ivor the Engine, and provided tablet-based software for visitors to create their own stop-motion animations. To familiarise younger visitors with these classic shows, a small screening room designed as a cosy living room played episodes from different series.
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![Two pink knitted mice on a wooden boat and a metal bird are standing on a rough blue base. An exhibit label next to them says “Music Boat” and is written with a typewriter, with red handwritten text beneath it.]()
The original scripts were typewritten, with Firmin and Postgate's scribbled notes around the edges. We employed a similar method on object labels to provide two layers of interpretation, one typewritten, the other in a handwriting typeface.
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![White cards scattered on a table. Each is printed with the words "Model Sheet - My character is called ..." with a space for visitors to write a name and draw their character from different angles. One shows a clown drawing, another a sassy chicken.]()
These simple interactives encouraged active participation and sparked the imagination. We hoped to inspire future animators by showing how creating animation can be easy, expressive and open to all.
