General admission: 2 May – 26 June 2025. Mon-Fri, 10am - 8pm. Free entry
Location: Peltz Gallery, Birkbeck, University of London. 43-46 Gordon Sq, London WC1H 0PD

Just this once, we’re asking you to enter through the gift shop…

Controversies in museums rarely start with the shop – but the souvenirs sold there can tell us as much as priceless objects in glass display cases. This new exhibition, curated by Kasia Tomasiewicz and Dan Hancox of the Cursed Objects podcast, explores the tat found in museum shops – objects that are ‘cursed’ not by magic spells, but by the sometimes good and occasionally bad cultural meanings that surround them.  

What stories do the pens, bouncy balls, and t-shirts found in museum shops tell us about the world we live in? How would you explain to an international visitor the existence of an imitation hand grenade ‘seed bomb’ for planting flowers, or rubber ducks made to look like Charles Dickens? This exhibition asks you to take museum shops seriously – and will make you see museums in a new, unexpected light.  

Kasia and Dan are available for interviews and related commissions. Contact: cursedobjectspod@gmail.com.