The Museum of Small and Overlooked Things
The Museum of Small and Overlooked Things is a new free museum for Bedford created by hundreds of local children using objects generously loaned from their own private collections.
Artists & Associates
The Museum of Small and Overlooked Things is a project that invites up to 250 primary aged children (ages 8-11 years) to create a public exhibition of ordinary objects collected and curated by the young people themselves. It is delivered in partnership with artists Andy Field & Beckie Darlington, who have previously collaborated with us on The Book of Bedford and News News News.
Following its initial commission in Germany in 2024 and a subsequent version delivered in Finland in 2025, the Museum of Small is now arriving in the UK. Bedford will be the first location to host the Museum as part of the wider programme of this project.
Children from four schools across Bedford will be asked to choose objects that they care about or value, but that they believe adults think are unimportant. These objects will then be presented for the public as a miniature temporary museum, curated by a smaller group of the young participants.
We will be working with children from Years 4, 5 and 6 at Priory Primary School in Bedford, Balliol Primary School in Kempston, Shortstown Primary School in Shortstown and Queen’s Park Academy in Bedford.
Creative Intention
The project intends to present a portrait of the town’s children at a moment in time, through a collection of overlooked objects that reflects the joys, concerns and preoccupations of the town’s youngest inhabitants and offers adults an insight into their world.
At the same time, the museum is a means of reflecting on a more political notion of “importance” in civic society and questions the way certain objects, places and ideas are used as tools of civic power. It questions who gets to determine what is important and what should be valued, treasured and saved? And where and why are those decisions made?
The Museum of Small is a playful take on the traditional way in which meaning is made through museums and other civic institutions, and a celebration of the marginal, the insignificant and the overlooked.
Building the Museum of Small
The project begins in October 2026 with workshops in the particpating primary schools, delivered with class teachers, where children will select personal objects, research their significance, and create recorded video introductions.
In November, a smaller group of children from these schools will work intensively for one week with the artists to assemble, design, and install the museum in the Harpur Centre. Pupils will be contributing to the museum’s visual design, signage, and cataloguing.
The project culminates in the launch of a month-long exhibition on 12th November. The exhibition will be open to children, families, schools, and the public. The participating children will ‘staff’ the exhibition space and help visitors understand the significance of the exhibition.
Idea, Concept and Artistic Direction: Andy Field & Beckie Darlington
Photography: Andreas Etter
The Museum of Small and Overlooked Things was originally commissioned by Staatstheater Mainz in 2024.
Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Additional funding for this project was awarded by BLCF on behalf of The Frank Branston Charitable Trust, by the Bedfordshire Educational Association and by the Charlton Educational Charity. Supported by core funders Arts Council England and The Harpur Trust.
