British Library will seek designers for new Harry Potter exhibition

The London museum and archive will be opening a Harry Potter exhibition in October 2017, but is yet to put out a call for entries for designers.

British Library © Tony Antoniou

The British Library will soon be seeking a design consultancy to recreate the magical world of Harry Potter in its upcoming exhibition.

The new exhibition is set to open at the London museum next autumn, to mark the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first book of the series.

The museum has confirmed it will be seeking an exhibition designer to complete the project, but is yet to reveal when there will be a call for entries, or what the creative vision will be.

But it has revealed that it will include the use of “centuries-old British Library treasures”, alongside “an extraordinary range of wizarding books, manuscripts and objects”, and original material from publisher Bloomsbury’s and author J.K. Rowling’s archives.

There will also be a non-fiction, historical element to the show, looking at medieval interpretations of things such as dragons, griffins and the philosopher’s stone.

London, and the UK in general, has gone potty for Potter this year – the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play at the Palace Theatre sold out immediately last October, while the play script has currently sold almost 850,000 copies after its first week of release.

Visuals from MinaLima's previous London exhibition space

The exhibition isn’t the first to hit the capital either. Last year, film graphic designers MinaLima held an exhibition showcasing the spellbinding secrets behind the in-film graphics for the series, then opened another more permanent shop and exhibition space this year to coincide with the opening of the play. This is currently on until 4 February 2017 at 26 Greek Street, Soho.

The British Library exhibition will run from 20 October 2017 – 28 February 2018. More details will be unveiled at a later date.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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