SuperMonster市City! is a collaboration between Master Collector David Barnhill and Curator Stephen Rueff, who are life-long friends.
They are based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and develop traveling exhibitions that explore how monsters, superheroes, and villains reflect and impact American sensibilities as these iconic characters are represented in toys, games, posters, film clips, and TV commercials from the past 60 years!
SuperMonster市City! exhibitions feature vintage and original toys, packaging, games, posters, comic books, media and more making it fun for everyone, from grandparents and grandchildren, who all know and love these monsters, superheroes and villains.
SuperMonster市City! exhibitions were recognized as Exhibition of the Year by the weekly publication City Pages.
Exhibitions Available for Booking
Premier Exhibit: America’s Monsters, Superheroes, and Villains
Monsters, Superheroes, and Villains have been part of the fabric of American culture for 80 years. This comprehensive exhibition features classic characters such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, The Black Panther, and Captain Marvel, Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, along with characters from Star Trek, Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, Dungeons and Dragons and more, as depicted in toys, books, posters, media, and more! The commentary reflects on the social and political contexts navigated by these iconic fictional characters over the past 80 years! Exhibition is scalable to accommodate a variety of spaces and is priced accordingly. Exhibit Details
Specialty Exhibit: Mary Shelley & Her Monster: 200 Years of Frankenstein
An engaging touring exhibition celebrating Mary Shelley who was 17 years old when she began writing Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. This exhibition recounts the tale of the night that Mary Shelley conceived of the Frankenstein story, her creative contemporaries, and the evolution of the Creature over the past 200 years! The novel also explores the pursuit of knowledge and the longing for love and acceptance from the perspective of a misunderstood outsider. This exhibition features original artworks created for this exhibition by artists from around the world, plus toys, books, films, games, and even pop culture parodies that have helped this iconic Creature remain relevant for 200 years. Scholars consider Frankenstein one of the first science fiction novels. This exhibit is designed for smaller spaces and budgets. Exhibit Details.
Specialty Exhibit: Spies and Space: Toys of the Cold War Era
This exhibition reflects how the drama and intrigue of real-world espionage and fascination with outer space seeped into American popular culture during the Cold War Era, circa the 1950s – 1980s. This exhibition features toys, games, posters, and more that represent the social and political tensions of that time.
After WWII, the US and USSR sought to demonstrate their supremacy by initiating a race to outer space and building up immense nuclear arsenals. Pop culture characters like James Bond and Major Matt Mason inspired children to imagine themselves as spies and space explorers.
As the superpowers vied for dominance, the innovations and discoveries of scientists became enticements for illicit activity. Real-world activities like the Apollo moon landing and exchanges on the bridge of spies morphed into pop culture franchises like the Man from U.N.C.L.E, Star Trek, Get Smart, Outer Limits, and others. They featured space travelers, aliens, spies, and new technologies to spark the imaginations of children and adults alike. This exhibit is designed for smaller spaces and budgets. Exhibit Details
Specialty Exhibit: Strange Creatures: Godzilla, Dinosaurs, and Fantasy Toys
Giant fantasy creatures have been popularized in toys, film, and comic books since in the 1950s. Dinosaurs are the first strange creatures celebrated in pop culture, followed by King Kong, and the most famous creature of all, Godzilla. This exhibition explores the history and evolution of dinosaurs and other fantasy creatures as they have evolved and how they inspired creative imaginations across the globe over the past 70 years. In addition to informative didactics, this exhibit displays vintage toys, posters, books, film clips, and games from across the decades, all inspired by the strange creatures of pop culture!
This exhibit is designed for smaller spaces and budgets. Exhibit Details.
Specialty Exhibit: Collecting Memories: A Love Story
David Barnhill and Frankenstein, circa 1964
Collecting Memories is a lyrical exploration into the mind of a collector, delving into nostalgia, identity, and seeking to reveal how we all embed personal memories into pop culture objects.
The objects displayed are from Minnesota-based David Barnhill, who has amassed a collection of popular culture artifacts estimated at over 200,000 toys, games, books, posters, media and more. Inherent in this collection is a specific point of view, a fascination with monsters, superheroes, villains, explorers, space, and robots. Taken together, these objects are signifiers of American culture from the past 80 years.
David Barnhill began collecting in dime stores with his mother June, in the early 1960s. David bonded with his father Gil through their shared passion for the superheroes and monster toys they assembled and painted together.
This exhibition presents objects from pop culture as a means of triggering nostalgia with the goal of engendering a deeper understanding of collecting.
Enjoy a few photos from our prior adventures!