Britten 100
Aldeburgh
The Britten 100 Exhibition, designed by GuM, celebrates the centenary of Benjamin Britten in 2013 and is located at The Red House in Aldeburgh.
The exhibition formed part of the site redevelopment, which included a new passive archive building by Stanton Williams Architects.
The thematic exhibition examines Britten’s life, growing up in Suffolk and then establishing a home in Aldeburgh at The Red House with his partner, Peter Pears. The Britten Pears Foundation have an astonishing and diverse collection of objects, including musical instruments, clothes, suitcases, books, airline tickets, bar bills, photographs, and paintings. A significant portion of the collection comprises 2D documents, musical manuscripts and scores.
We collaborated with sound specialists and curators to create a high-quality audio experience both inside the gallery and in the newly renovated composition studio.
Setworks included a recreation of the upturned fisherman’s boat from the set of Britten’s Opera Peter Grimes. We focused on simple ways of making exhibits appealing to people without a musical background, using low tech interactives such as colourful dressing-up masks from the children’s opera, Noyes Fludde.
The project has been awarded funding of £65,800 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) to help develop plans for Benjamin Britten’s centenary in 2013.