Award-winning creative agency AMV BBDO and Young V&A have collaborated on a Japanese-based collection to encourage Gen MZ to visit the museum.
Titled “Lost and Found Yōkai,” the art installations are inspired by the different supernatural beings believed to live in Japan, their local versions of ghosts, demons, and monsters.
The collection focuses on the Kasa-obake, a playful ghost that is said to lick people to spook them for fun.
It’s what an old or broken umbrella turns into after it’s been discarded for a long time, receiving a spirit on its 100th birthday.
AMV BBDO and Young V&A pooled together talented artists to create “Kasa-obake Alley,” a vibrant display of colorful umbrellas sure to capture the attention of Gen MZers, who are known to be into Japanese manga and anime.
“We wanted to find artists who were playful in their practices and use of materials, and who made vibrant, colorful work that would spark joy in children," Alexis Sun, executive creative producer at AMV BBDO, told DesignRush.
"This idea has such a great message around sustainability and creative freedom that we received so many positive responses from these artists when we approached them," Sun added.
"Lost and Found Yōkai" is the “first major creative installation” collaborated on by AMV BBDO and Young V&A.
According to AMV BBDO creatives Anzhela Hayrabedyan and Luca Grosso, they arrived at the "Kasa-obake Alley" concept after trying to marry Japanese lore with something easily identifiable with London — its rainy streets.
“Abandoned umbrellas reimagined as yōkai seemed to be the perfect bridge, blending Japan's storytelling with the wonderfully eclectic art scene of the U.K.,” the two creatives said in a press release.
In targeting aspects of popular cultures of both the East and West, AMV BBDO not only captures a wider and more diverse audience for Young V&A, but it also allows them to maximize the creative output of the exhibition.
The Transformation of 'Forgotten Umbrellas'
The latest display was inspired by Young V&A’s “Japan: Myths to Manga,” an exhibition that is open until September.
Walking down Kasa-obake Alley, where visitors can gaze up and marvel at the floating display of reimagined yōkais, will lead them to the entrance of the "Japan: Myths to Manga" exhibition at the museum’s mezzanine floor.
Each work of art was created from forgotten umbrellas donated by Transport for London’s (TfL) Lost Property department.
"One of the highlights [of the process] was getting a personal tour of TfL’s cavernous Lost Property Office before taking the umbrellas back to the agency. We then photographed all 200 umbrellas and put them into a catalog that was sent to the artists to pick from,” Sun shared.
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William Newton, a curator at Young V&A, explained that because umbrellas are the most common item left behind on London’s transport networks, it just made sense to “give them a new use and bring a bit of Japan to the museum’s Town Square for visitors to enjoy.”
On top of the colorful and carefully made installations, sound artist and designer Yuri Suzuki will also present “Yōkai Onomatopoeic Machine,” a beautiful combination of the “sounds of supernatural Japan” and “horn-shaped sculptures.”
Suzuki’s visual and auditory work of art, in partnership with design and research studio Very Very Far Away, can be found right before entering Kasa-obake Alley.
As part of the collaboration with Young V&A, AMV BBDO also developed an OOH campaign that takes the colorful yōkais to the streets of London.
Each billboard, photographed by Emily Stein, will showcase the yōkais where the original umbrellas were found.
The campaign will also include social media posts that shine the spotlight on how each artist transformed these umbrellas into eclectic yōkais.
The indoor exhibition is free and will run until September 1.
