War, Memory and Tat, LIVE - with Dr Charlotte Lydia Riley, Luke Turner and Kate Clements

Cursed Objects

Coming to you LIVE from the Cursed Objects in Museum Shops exhibition, with three very special guests: Dr Charlotte Lydia Riley, Luke Turner and Kate Clements.

It's another lively live show, exploring war museums and their merch from several angles. How do war museums navigate ‘selling’ histories of death and destruction to their visitors? What can replica First World War trench whistles and Panzerfaust soft toys tell us about the changing relationship between the museum, its shop and its visitors? And what happens when museum shops themselves become sites of conflict, as in the recent ‘culture wars’ over the National Trust's ‘vegan’ scones?

This event was recorded live as part of the event series connected to the Cursed Objects in Museum Shops exhibition at the Peltz Gallery. The exhibition is FREE and runs until 26 June, Mon-Fri 10am- 8pm. For more information, see here. (You've still got a few days left to see it!!)
Our fabulous guests:

Dr Charlotte Lydia Riley is a historian of twentieth-century Britain at the University of Southampton, specialising in questions about empire, politics, culture and identity. She is the author of Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain and the co-author of Is Free Speech Under Threat?

Luke Turner is an author and editor. His most recent book Men at War: Loving, fighting, lusting, remembering 1939-1945 explores masculinity and sexuality within the memory of the Second World War. His first book, Out of the Woods, was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize. Luke co-founded the influential music website The Quietus.

Kate Clements is the author of Total War: A People’s History of the Second World War and The Royal Family in Wartime. She curated the award-winning Second World War Galleries at the Imperial War Museums, and is a former curator of the Churchill War Rooms. Kate is currently Curator of the Tower of London.

With thanks to Jade Bailey for her help on the recording.
This event was supported by the Centre for Museum Cultures, Birkbeck.