As The Walking Dead enters its final season, the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) and AMC Networks are partnering to present the major exhibition Living with The Walking Dead, an exhibition devoted entirely to the groundbreaking series The Walking Dead. On June 25, 2022, the exhibition will be opening at the Museum in Astoria, Queens. This will be an exploration of the show’s origins, production, and impact. A series of multiple screenings will be held in conjunction with the exhibition over the course of six months, and will conclude on January 1, 2023.
On the third floor of the Museum, the Museum’s gallery for changing exhibitions, Living with The Walking Dead will examine the issues that lie at the heart of the series: the deteriorating conditions of society in the wake of the murderous undead. To say it simply, I was at the museum to witness all the items that were on display and I must say, it was a great experience for fans of The Walking Dead to see the items up close!
Living with The Walking Dead will explore, with its wide-ranging story of survival, diverse cast of characters, and devoted following, the cinematic and literary antecedents of the show and the innovative things it has contributed.
Original costumes and props will be on display in the exhibition, as well as concept art, storyboards, scripts, and a wealth of prosthetic makeup materials. Greg Nicotero and the team at KNB EFX Studios, where Special Effects Makeup Supervisor and Executive Producer Greg Nicotero leads a team of award-winning artists, created legions of undead walkers by primarily utilizing practical effects to create vividly realized undead walkers.
There is a series of films presented in conjunction with the first month of the exhibition entitled Films of the Dead: Romero and Co., which will feature key films of George A. Romero, beginning with his 1968 independent masterpiece Night of the Living Dead. There will be eleven films presented as part of the series, presented with the support of horror streaming service Shudder, spanning Romero’s cinematic zombie corpus, along with modern varieties from directors as diverse as Edgar Wright, Zack Snyder, Jim Jarmusch, and Shinichiro Ueda. The films will frequently be programmed as double-feature screenings (one ticket price provides access to both films).
As part of the Museum’s partnership with AMC Networks, the museum has previously produced the exhibitions, Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men (2015) and From Mr. Chips to Scarface: Walter White’s Transformation in the Show Breaking Bad (2013).
Be sure to check out the exhibit before it goes away forever when January comes. Also, you will see artwork from The Walking Dead’s community on display as well! Photography is done by Julian Cannon
