A Celebration of Monsters, Superheroes, and Villains in traveling museum exhibitions!
SuperMonster市City! traveling exhibits are derived from co-founder David Barnhill’s private collection of an estimated 200,000 toys, posters, games, books, films, and more. Co-founder Stephen Rueff curates the objects in social and political contexts through reflective and informative texts, artist profiles, and commentary. Barnhill and Rueff bring new insights to America’s iconic mythical figures from America’s Golden Age of toys.
2024 Exhibition Dates:
Spies and Space: Toys of the Cold War Era is an exhibition reflects on how the drama and intrigue of real-world espionage, and the fascination with outer space, seeped into American and Russian popular culture during the Cold War Era. Follow the links below for more info!
Sheboygan County History Musuem
February – April 2024
Dacotah Prairie Musuem
May – September 2024
Castle Museum of Saginaw County Musuem
September 2024 – January 2025
2024 Exhibition Dates:
This exhibition explores how American monsters, superheroes, and villains impacted American culture from the 1960s to the 1990s and became iconic characters reflecting America’s changing values and social tensions. Through this unique display of hundreds of toys, posters, media, and text panels, this exhibition has been enjoyed by thousands of people in cultural institutions across the U.S. Follow the links below for more information!
Science Central
June – September 2024
Sacramento History Museum
September 2024 – January 2025
Recommendation:
The St. Louis Public Library Director of Marketing and Events
Cathy Heimberger wrote the following recommendation.
“As the director of marketing for the St. Louis Public Library I am tasked with bringing exhibits to our Central Library that are unique and have a broad appeal. I met David and Stephen while attending an American Association of Museums conference and I knew immediately that I wanted to work with them and bring this one of a kind experience to St. Louis. They didn’t disappoint.
“Our exhibit consisted of more than 500 items from David’s personal collection and attracted visitors of all ages and backgrounds. The exhibit was a natural fit for the library as monsters and villains have lived on the shelves of public libraries from our earliest days. We saw a spike in our graphic novel checkouts during the four month run of the exhibit. I highly recommend bringing this exhibit to your organization.”
Check out these pictures from the St. Louis Public Library
Exhibited October 2022 – January 2023
Video Testimonials!
Goldstein Museum of Design Director
Lin Nelson-Mayson interview and exhibition images
Historic Duluth Depot Program Director
Briana Johnson interview and exhibition images
Video: Attendees share their thoughts on our exhibitions
Click this LINK for interviews and installation images (if asked, password is SMC)
SuperMonster市City! exhibits strive to be carbon neutral!
As a proud member of TerraPass, we offset 100% of CO2 emissions from shipping and related travel.
We inform host institutions of the amount of CO2 emissions upon request for use in their sustainability reports.
For more on SuperMonster市City!
Contact email: Stephen@SuperMonsterCity.com
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Toy photos above by Steve Zerby
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SuperMonster市City
SuperMonsterCity! celebrates monsters, superheroes and villains in traveling exhibitions and more!
Yes , indeed Zorro may be The 1st US Masked hero with a dual Identity. There is also the Scarlet Pimpernel, which was a play and a book by Baroness Orczy. It came out in 1905. and had a noble aristocrat who had this foppish identity and then became this swashbuckling hero. The Shadow was I think a big influence on Batman( IMO ) And lest we forget There is The Phantom comic strip by Lee Falk. This guy knows his stuff! If you get a chance go see this exhibit in Sacramento History Museum until Jan . ... ALSO I think the Best Zorro book is by Isabel Allende, she incorporates the movies and the book and comics into his origin story. It is a great read
Hello friends, hello fiends, Halloween is almost upon us and I’m gonna be busy building up crazy carnage for trick-or-treaters of all ages. I’ll be digging up corpses, burying bodies and getting guys out into the yard to scare everyone on Halloween. Enjoy your Halloween and we’ll be in touch. #Halloween #halloween2024 #spookyseason #supermonstercity
Cool Monster Models from Aurora,,, from way back in the 60's. On display at the Sacramento History Museum.. if this disappears.. then click on the link to the museum.
Lets look at some amazing Aurora Monster Models. They are on display down in Sacramento History Museum. Luckily my Father painted them... way better than I could dream of. #MonsterKid #vintagetoys #toycollector #supermonstercity (posted by the Sacramento History Museum on Oct 24th)
Happy Halloween! Here is a chaotic mix of random monsters, cute stuff and forgotten things I found in the Crypts. I thought you might want to take a look and maybe it will make you smile, cringe or feel goosebumps. Enjoy the Halloween season, live the wild fantastic and howl at the moon. #halloweendecor #vintagetoys #coolstuff #supermonstercity
Below are the logos to some of the cultural institutions that have hosted our exhibitions
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