12th July - 12th October 2025

From the 12th July, Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery in Truro plays host to a whimsical blast of neon nostalgia celebrating a decade which now feels like a parallel universe; the 1980s.

The exhibition I Grew Up 80s brings together over 200 pieces of memorabilia – iconic items covering 1980s fashion, toys, collectables, technology, music and movies – showcasing the world on the cusp of the digital age, when everything from entertainment to communication was about to change radically.

Bryony Robins, Co-Director of Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, said:

“This exhibition is a deep dive into a decade of larger-than-life pop culture, distinctive music and fashion trends - not to mention amazing hairstyles. It was a golden age of movies, with an aesthetic now being recreated in hit shows like Stranger Things, Snowfall and Glow.”

Music and fashion from the 80s will be on show at the museum’s launch night for the exhibition on 17th July; Now That’s What I Call… A Night at the Museum promises an epic 80s fest from the decade that brought us the yuppie, white jeans, and shoulder pads. 

The exhibition itself is the perfect opportunity to blow the kids' minds by introducing them to the cassette tape, the shell suit, and Pac-Man, spending a few hours in a decade when artificial intelligence and virtual reality were the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters rather than a fact of life.

The origins of today’s digital technology can be found in the 1950s, but it wasn’t until 1989 that Tim Berners-Lee proposed a new way of structuring and linking information on a computer network, conceiving of it as a ‘web of information’ that would ultimately become the World Wide Web.

In 1991 a key piece of code was made freely available and people around the world began setting up websites, leading to a technological and economic boom that essentially changed the way we live, work and play forever.

Bryony expands:

“As a summer show aimed at families, I Grew Up 80s is designed to be fun above all else, but it’s also intended to provoke conversations. The show explores how the way we play and communicate has changed. There are different free family activities taking place every week during the holidays, so Gen Alpha can find out how their grown-ups got their kicks in the 80s!”

Activities include making your own brick-like Nokia 3120, neon printing a skinny tie, creating an 80s pop collage and making Lego protest boards.

Bryony continued:

“We’re immersing families in a time when teens didn’t have to worry about their leg warmers or deeley boppers being on social media, and mullets and perms were reserved for the family photo album. There was a lot of economic and social upheaval in the 80s and life certainly wasn’t a bed of roses, but culturally looking back now you could see it as a last frivolous flourishing of the pre-analogue, digital world.”

I Grew Up 80s is at Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery from 12th July - 12th October. Annual Passes for adults are £10, and Under 18s are entirely free. 80s-themed ‘summer passports’ are available to fill with a record of family activities in connection with the exhibition. Tickets for the launch party on 17th July are available to purchase here