WORDS: ELLIOTT HUGHES | PHOTOGRAPHY: NATIONAL MOTOR MUSEUM
The National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire, UK, has revealed Motopia? Past Future Visions as its latest headline exhibition. The show, which runs from May 20 to April 14, 2023, depicts 130 years of automobility, including past visions of the motor car, ideas that have become reality, and concepts that are yet to be realised.
“Concept cars, visions of the future at the start of the 20th century and ideas on how we travel and power our vehicles will be on display,” confirmed National Motor Museum chief executive Jon Murden. “We’ll explore how radical motoring concepts from the past remain relevant today, and how these have influenced what we ride and drive.”
The title of the exhibition is inspired by Motopia, a fictional place where vehicles and humans harmoniously coexist that was created in the 1950s by British architect Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe.
At the turn of the 20th century, it was John Montagu-Scott, second Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, who predicted the construction of fast roads connecting cities. Future generations then took inspiration from firebrands such as Jellicoe and Lord Montagu to create the automobility we know today.
The exhibition comprises four themes: vehicle visions, propulsion, architectural dreams and urban solutions. The first two themes examine car design concepts and propulsion technologies. The others explore sci-fi visions of the future and how vehicles have evolved to suit the urban environment.
More information is available from the National Motor Museum here and here.
