Richard Hamilton’s trailblazing multimedia installation “Fun House” was realized for the exhibition “this is tomorrow” in London in 1956. Exactly sixty years later, the retrospective survey “This Was Tomorrow” at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg brings together not only painting, sculpture, collage, architecture, drawing and installation, but also film, music, television and photography in one multimedia, spatial mise-en-scène, to create a comprehensive panorama of Pop Art in Great Britain. The show ranges from Eduardo Paolozzi’s early Parisian collages produced in 1947 to the climax and culmination of “Swinging London”. The exhibition’s broad scope enables visitors to experience the artistic and cultural historical significance of British Pop Art with all their senses, while presenting this period as an essential prehistory of our own present day.

The exhibition is accompanied by a new book edited by Ralf Beil and Uta Ruhkamp, with essays by Ralf Beil, David E. Brauer, Anne Massey, Rainer Metzger, Uta Ruhkamp and John-Paul Stonard. This 432 page book includes 400 colour illustrations and can be purchased for 38€ in the museum shop.