A dazzling new Marilyn Monroe exhibition has opened in Arches London Bridge. Cultural Union speaks to owner and curator Ted Stampfer and its producers – the ground-breaking architectural practice Studioshaw.

One would expect an exhibition about the world’s most recognisable female icon to hold a certain fascination. But MARILYN – the Exhibition is riveting – both for the unexpected sense of intimacy conveyed by the 250 objects and for the innovative and perfectly synchronised production by Studioshaw – a B-Corp architectural firm with a reputation for environmentally responsible practice.

The collection is owned by Ted Stampfer – a German art collector who has assembled the world’s largest collection of Marilyn objects. He is also the exhibition’s curator, and he has done so with intent.

“People are fascinated by her timeless beauty,” Stampfer tells Cultural Union, “her expression of beauty and strength that is also vulnerable and fragile. But behind this was a very smart businesswoman. I have tried to record this in the exhibition so that people realise she is not the ‘dumb blonde bombshell’ reported in her day and under-rated in her lifetime.”

People are fascinated by her timeless beauty. But behind this was a very smart businesswoman.

Ted Stampfer, curator, MARILYN – the Exhibition

Stampfer’s collection is impressive, the objects charged with pathos and nostalgia. The young Norma Jeane’s sketchbook, just after she left her orphanage, foreshadows a life in the Hollywood fishbowl. There’s a frisson to seeing Monroe’s 1960s phonebook, artfully opened to reveal Frank Sinatra’s number, and we see the dresses that charted the stages of her career to megastardom, but also a well-worn recipe book, personal notes and cosmetics.

Framing all this is the venue itself. Arches London Bridge, beneath London Bridge Station and at the foot of the Shard, is an exceptionally atmospheric space – Victorian, industrial, dark and labyrinthine. But it’s not without challenges for mounting exhibitions. Drilling into the historic brick ceilings, walls and floor is a no-no, and in lesser hands than Studioshaw’s, guiding visitors through the tunnels and chambers could be problematic and the ubiquitous brick backdrop oppressive.

Studioshaw has harnessed these limitations to create an experience more evocative and immersive than any white box setting could deliver. The flow is established by a series of pink stars that recall the Hollywood Walk of Fame, each carrying the name of one of Monroe’s films – a surprising 33 of them. It’s an intuitive system that leads visitors through colour-coded zones each depicting a different era of Monroe’s life.

“We wanted it to be an experiential storytelling piece,” Studioshaw founder Mark Shaw tells Cultural Union. “We began with this empty, cavernous and somewhat masculine space of exposed brickwork. But many of the objects are small and personal – lipsticks and photographs. How do you make this scale of space work for these tiny objects? So we created what we call retreats – they’re almost like little shrines – to create real intimacy.”

How do you make this scale of space work for tiny objects? So we created retreats – almost like little shrines – to create real intimacy.

Mark Shaw, founder of Studioshaw

These shrines are the display cases – elegant aluminium tables like anodized gold encased in Green Cast – a 100% recycled and recyclable acrylic. They are placed in zones delineated by large boards raised slightly off the floor – a technique which recalls mid-century film studios, and also a practical measure to ensure low-impact and recyclability. Studioshaw colour-coded the zones using the same pastel pinks, blues and greens of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn screen-prints – an ingenious choice as they are so imprinted on our cultural memory as to be indivisible from our perception of Monroe herself.

The display boards are created from carbon-negative, fully biodegradable Honext, and they are all uniform in size. “It was important to standardise the box sizes to create a legibility, so that you’re not bombarded with lots of different shapes and sizes,” says Shaw. “But also, if you end up with a load of cut boards, someone’s going to say, ‘how the hell do I use this?’ If we’ve got 100 sheets of full Honext boards then it gives them a much better chance of being reused.”

Studioshaw took the decision to invest in the best illuminations available, delivered by Michael Grubb Studio. “In this huge, cavernous brickwork, it’s all about lighting, these small, complex things – evoking the smoky, moody interiors of the period,” says Shaw – and the lighting is subtle, creating intimate pools of light, which refracts beguilingly off the aluminium display tables.

With all the penumbra that Marilyn the icon has become freighted with, it’s easy to forget that Marilyn was primarily a film star, and inside that, a human being. As befits an actor, the exhibition contains enough audiovisual elements to remind us of her screen presence and the extraordinary number of films she was in – alongside legendary moments such as her Happy Birthday, Mr President rendition for her one-time lover, John F Kennedy.

But these elements never overshadow the exhibits themselves. Ted Stampfer has a clear love and respect for his subject and has curated a collection that balances the electricity of experiencing famous objects in the flesh with the relatability of the every-day fabric of a real life. Studioshaw has succeeded in weaving a compelling narrative with an internal logic and chronology that works and informs while remaining light-touch. The shimmering chain backdrops to some of her legendary outfits, counterposed with images of her wearing them, are brilliantly executed yet never detract from the quieter moments, and it’s an exhibition that lends itself to lingering over personal letters and small details, all aided by navigational materials in smart fonts that give just the right dose of information.

In a sense, MARILYN – the Exhibition reveals the scaffolding behind the façade of an icon’s life. We see agent’s letters, invoices and contracts, make-up and clothes. But it also reminds one of the wit and insight of her aphorisms, her longevity as an artist, and her savviness as an operator.

And so, the exhibition succeeds on multiple levels. As Ted Stampfer tells us: “Only later did Marilyn get her respect, postponed until long after her death, as we have learned during the decades since. I want this collection to remind people, in a respectful way, about the true Marilyn – the woman behind the façade and the real personality. These objects reveal the true character.”

MARILYN – the Exhibition is on at Arches London Bridge, London, until 2025