Le Guns’ Curiosity Shop and Gallery

I discovered this strange little shop at the weekend. Spread over two floors, it’s packed to the gills with macabre little oddities-Francis Baconesque portraits, Victorian dolls, piles of ancient wooden limbs and rusting foot lasts, but the real treat is found below deck. An artist that goes by the name of 1927 (amazing!) has devised an interactive installation that consists of illustration, set design and found objects.

Titled “A Haunted House”, you enter by crawling through a desk! Suddenly you find yourself in what can only be described as a Victorian dollhouse-and you’re the dolls! Twisting and turning, crawling and climbing, wriggling through the rooms and corridors and following the story of the Two Evil Twins, sometimes in complete darkness, it’s a full sensory experience-tiny lights, the sound of a crackling radio broadcast and chatter from far away. Absolutely disorientating and unexpected! But, the best bit by far is sharing a wee glass of sherry in the tiny drawing room with the artist and others who have found their way there! What a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon-drunk on sherry fumes (not much ventilation in a dollhouse!).

Brown's Shoe Shop of Curiosities
61 Wilton Way Hackney E8
http://www.legun.co.uk