Garden design ideas:

If I need some garden design ideas head straight for the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The largest arts and crafts museum in the world, it is packed floor-to-ceiling with sumptuous delights in many mediums. They always have three or four exhibitions at any one time, and they are always worth visiting.

New Sainsbury Wing

With the new wing recently opened it is even more breath-taking then it was before.

I have to be honest, I’m not particularly a fan of opera, but as I am a member, knowing that their exhibitions or not to be missed I went to see Opera: Passion, Politics and Power.

I wasn’t disappointed.

Opera: Passion, Politics and Power

The exhibition is broken up into seven operas in different cities. It is very immersive, vast and exhilarating exhibition. You are given a set of headphones, the sound quality is immense. You are instantly immersed in the genre. For me, it is often as much about how they have chosen to display the information as the information itself. Vast walls, with simple quotes in a handwritten font really give impact.

Collections of the same thing set in a line allow you to compare and contrast each item. Exquisite glassware demonstrates the skill of the nations craftspeople and demonstrates the wealth of commerce and trade in the area around 1500 and 1600s. The way the items are lit, even displayed against black wall, still create shadow and drama. Here the Opera Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea (1643) plays.

The exhibition, in parts, is very erotic. Costumes are displayed, courtesans would provocatively open the skirts. Revealing, something beyond. The original drawing is displayed next to the final costume. The costume, feels surprisingly current. Something that Alexander McQueen or Vivian Westwood might of produced.

Violins, or suspended, seemingly floating in the cabinet. Positioned at court and differing angles, it allows you to view their beauty and appreciate the shape of the object itself. I loved the record, the Rock Theatre. The lavish theatrical staging, that you could view both from the front and the rear. The way that perspective was achieved in the small space is fascinating, definitely something to apply to garden design ideas.

Operatic costumes are displayed throughout the space. Rich and sumptuous and beautifully made they obviously replicated the fashions of the day. Particularly structural work metalwork hello weeks or pieces, where the curators had decided to use strong multi text role frames to represent a week or do. Large, these would make the most fabulous garden structures, purpose or tunnels.

Perhaps, one of the most breath-taking areas was the bank of screens showing auditorium is 150 Italian opera houses. The seat been placed for you to experience this in massive curved screen. Verdi’s Nabucco plays through the headphones, and the enormity of the genre is breath-taking. As a designer wanting to draw down on this regarding design ideas, this huge immense curve becomes totally immersive. A great idea for enclosing an area in the garden and adding deep drama.

The end of the exhibition, brings it up to the modern day. Kirchner’s nudes are resting, and the analysts couch in front of a terrifying Royal Opera production brings a whole new dimension to the exhibition. Very evocative of pre-war Europe, costumes by Dolly and the Saatchi sit in contrast with the graphic necrophilia in the film.

This exhibition was totally thought provoking. Completely immersive as an experience and a great introduction to the power opera. If you can, go.