Radiohead album covers will be displayed at the prestigious Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The multimedia exhibition will include album covers and other works by artist Stanley Donwood and the band's lead singer, Thom Yorke. Sketchbooks and personal notes never before shown to the public will also be on display from August 2025 to January 2026, the BBC reports.
Radiohead formed at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire in 1985. Their album covers, such as that of “Ok Computer”, are famous for their impactful designs, often featuring collages of shapes and patterns. The exhibition will include over 120 works and will be entitled “This Is What You Get”, taking a line from the song “Karma Police”.
The Ashmolean Museum, affiliated with Oxford University, said the exhibition will explore the complex relationship between visual art and music.
Stanley Donwood, whose real name is Dan Rickwood, has collaborated on most of Radiohead's album covers, as well as Thom Yorke's musical projects. The two artists have worked together since their days at the University of Exeter.
Of Donwood's work, Yorke told the BBC: “Dan is incredibly skilled at pulling ideas out of my head in a way that leaves me speechless, in completely unexpected directions.”
In 2001, Donwood won a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package for his limited-edition “Amnesiac” album packaging, which was turned into a library book.
Speaking of Radiohead, in recent days, Thom Yorke has closed the doors to a return of the band. In an interview with Australian broadcaster Double J, the frontman was asked to answer a question about how his “fertile” work with Jonny Greenwood on The Smile project had led fans to speculate about the possibility of new Radiohead music. Yorke's reply was brutal: “I don't know about it and I really don't care. No offense to anyone, and thanks for your interest. But I think we've earned the right to do what makes sense to us, without having to explain and take into account what other people think we should do,” replied the frontman, who added: “We are in a privileged position in that we can still make music thanks to Radiohead, so I'm not complaining.”
Bassist Colin Greenwood, currently on tour with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds for the promotional tour of “Wild God”, raised hopes for a possible return of Radiohead. In an interview with Andrew Trendell of Nme he told of a recent Radiohead reunion: “We got together in the summer for just a couple of days, we reviewed all the songs and picked up where we left off in 2018 – he revealed – It was really fun and nice to see everyone again. We had planned to do three or four days, but we stopped after two because it was fine, and we knew we could do it. My brother (Jonny, ed.) said it would be enough for us of weeks of rehearsals and we could have gone on tour, without problems.”
However, Colin Greenwood recalled that at the moment the main commitments for the members of Radiohead are different. “They're focused on finishing what they're working on. My brother has been ill and is still recovering. The rehearsals were really fun and friendly, though. We rehearsed at this studio called The Church, where we finished recording 'OK Computer', so the last time I was there was 1996 and I was recording the bass for 'Airbag'. And so, here we are again in Crouch End… It's been fantastic, but beyond this meeting, I'm sure we'll get together and make plans – but for what, I don't know.” When asked by the interviewer whether this meeting was a prelude to to a Radiohead tour, Colin Greenwood replied without hesitation: “No, it doesn't mean a tour is imminent!”.
Radiohead's latest album, “A Moon Shaped Pool,” dates back to 2016. The following year, the band released a 20th anniversary reissue of their seminal LP “OK Computer,” titled “OKNOTOK 1997 2017,” and in 2021 released “Kid A Mnesia”, an anniversary collection containing tracks from “Kid A”, “Amnesiac” and previously unreleased material. Since then, however, Yorke has focused on The Smile, a project he created with Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
