Exhibition - Toy Culture Vision: the art of capturing pop culture through the lens and toys at the Toy Museum

By Mulder, 26 february 2026

Since February 7, 2026, the Toy Museum has been hosting an exhibition that appeals to collectors, film buffs, and those nostalgic for the 1980s: Toy Culture Vision. The art of capturing pop culture through the lens and toys," by Haitem Gasmi, alias Bespincloud, a self-taught French photographer who in just a few years has become one of the most recognizable faces in French toy photography. Open until January 3, 2027, the exhibition brings together some twenty large-format photographs featuring iconic toys from the 1980s to the present day in visual compositions of almost obsessive precision, where every light source, every shadow, and every particle seems to tell a story in its own right.

What is immediately striking about Haitem Gasmi's work is his ability to transform cult figurines into veritable movie sets. Inspired by cinema, video games, manga, music, and iconic universes such as Star Wars and Transformers, he composes meticulously crafted dioramas in which lighting plays a central role, much like the artisanal special effects of the pre-digital era. The unreal becomes tangible, almost palpable, as if these miniature heroes had suddenly escaped from their display cases to live out their own epic adventures before our eyes. Synthwave, retro-futuristic atmospheres, and nods to 1980s blockbusters permeate his images, giving the whole a strong, coherent, and immediately recognizable visual identity.

Self-taught, Haitem Gasmi has established himself in just over three years as a reference in a field long perceived as a simple hobby for enthusiasts. By claiming toy photography as an art form in its own right, he is part of an approach at the crossroads of memory and imagination, where toys are no longer just collector's items but vehicles for emotion and storytelling. This recognition did not come about in obscurity: his work has led him to collaborate with major players in the entertainment industry such as Hasbro, Marvel, Sony Pictures, and Lucasfilm, confirming the artistic legitimacy of a practice that was still marginal a few years ago. These collaborations, verified and acknowledged, testify to a now very real bridge between fan communities and major companies in the sector.

The Toy Culture Vision exhibition fits perfectly with the mission of the Toy Museum, which celebrates the playful object in all its forms and across all generations. By presenting these photographs in large format, the institution changes the scale of the gaze: the toy, usually held in the hand, becomes monumental, almost mythological. This reversal of perspective is one of the most fascinating aspects of Haitem Gasmi's work: by enlarging the infinitely small, he forces us to rediscover icons we thought we knew by heart, whether they come from science fiction franchises, superheroes, or the retro imagination of the 1980s. Each photograph acts as a time capsule, evoking both childhood nostalgia and the contemporary aesthetics of social media, where staging and lighting have become universal languages.

Beyond simply exhibiting images, Toy Culture Vision also recounts the evolution of an artistic practice in the digital age. Toy photography, long confined to online communities, finds museum legitimacy here, marking a symbolic turning point. Seeing these scenes, usually consumed on screen, hanging on the walls of a museum, is to witness the institutional recognition of a creative movement born on Instagram and nourished by global geek culture. The exhibition, comprising some twenty works, offers a variety of atmospheres, from epic scenes to more intimate tableaux, while maintaining an aesthetic coherence that reflects Haitem Gasmi's signature style.

The museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., as well as Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., allowing the public to discover the exhibition in ideal conditions. Until January 3, 2027, Toy Culture Vision is a must-see for those who consider pop culture to be not just entertainment, but an emotional and visual heritage worthy of celebration. Through Haitem Gasmi's lens, toys cease to be mere childhood memories and become a stage, a setting, a fragment of cinema frozen in time, proving that between memory and imagination, miniatures can sometimes contain an entire universe.