Is that really the pea that the princess felt through 20 mattresses? Who lost this eyeball? And how did that teapot end up in someone’s bed?

This is our Museum in the Market (sometimes called The Market Stall at the End of the World). Here the curators are storytellers and every artefact has at least one story to tell. Storytellers have worked in museums for decades, performing stories to contextualise and animate collections. By placing this ‘museum’ in the marketplace, barriers to engagement melt away and permissions shift, creating a demotic space of browsing, questioning, and cultural exchange.

What happens in the Museum in the Market is delightfully unpredictable and inherently spontaneous. Snuggled into a bustling market, it catches people unawares – it is a space for sharing, a space of memories and of discoveries.

This year we’re working with the fabulously skilled maker, Jack Stiling, to design and build us an actual cabinet of curiosities – a mini and
mobile version of the museum, which will let us take the museum to new people in new spaces.