When the Academy Museum opened in 2021, one of its most beloved cinematic treasures on display was Dorothy’s ruby slippers—specifically the pair, among untold numbers of other versions, that the museum believes was used for close-ups and the iconic heel clicks in The Wizard of Oz. But to keep those shoes in pristine condition, they could only remain on display for about a year.
Now you’ll be able to gawk at those sparkly shoes once again as part of “Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema,” which opens alongside “Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema” on October 6. Both exhibitions were first announced last year as part of the upcoming Getty-funded PST ART, a marathon of science-and-art exhibitions at museums around the city. But now the Academy Museum has released more details about what we can expect to see in each.
We’ll start with “Color in Motion,” which features close to 150 objects—pieces of technology, costumes, props and film posters—from the 1890s to today. Broken up into six themes, the exhibition will look at the connection between color, music and movement, like in early dance and animated shorts; decades of color technologies, from Technicolor processes and Disney’s women-led Ink & Paint Department to contemporary digital tools; monochrome silent films; the narrative role of color; and experimental works.
The final gallery in the show is dubbed the Color Arcade, an interactive, neon-hued space that includes a corridor inspired by the trippy stargate from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In addition to Dorothy’s slippers, you’ll find costume items from Vertigo, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Django Unchained, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Red Shoes, Hero and Jodhaa Akbar, as well as a Wonka chocolate bar from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and a model of the yellow house from Up.
“Cyberpunk” is comparatively smaller, with 24 original objects and 18 poster reproductions but on display in the double-height Hurd Gallery (that’s the space where you may have spotted the Mount Rushmore backdrop from North by Northwest during the museum’s opening run). The Academy Museum will turn the tall gallery into an immersive installation, with moving images of wastelands, derelict urban settings and digital landscapes from cyberpunk, Afrofuturist, Indigenous futurist and Latinx futurist films surrounding the space.
On the first floor, you’ll be greeted by posters from Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix, Alita: Battle Angel, Neptune Frost and about a dozen others. Up on the second, you’ll find items from a stellar selection of near-future films, including a never-before-exhibited costume from Tron, a Vid-Phone from Blade Runner, a matte painting from The Running Man, concept art from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a prop silicone head and chrome skull from Ex Machina and an assortment of props from Videodrome, Strange Days, Sleep Dealer and Night Raiders. In addition, the lobby will feature a mixed reality experience about virtual production techniques in film.
You’ll have to wait until October to see both exhibitions, but in the meantime, the museum is currently in the final weeks of “John Waters: Pope of Trash,” a retrospective of the delightfully filthy Hairspray and Pink Flamingos writer and director.