Cosplay

In the fall of 2026, Design Museum Den Bosch will present the exhibition Cosplay. Cosplay (a contraction of the words costume and play) is, in short, a subculture in which people dress up as their favorite characters from films, books, games or comic books. But it encompasses much more than that: cosplay represents a global youth culture, a commercial success, the ultimate expression of fandom and subversive and creative play. Millions of people worldwide are involved in cosplay.

The museum sees cosplay as an online and offline testing ground for identity, where much more is possible than in the “normal world”. Through design interventions that focus on craftsmanship, cosplayers experiment with themes such as gender, ethnicity and identity. At the same time, cosplay plays a major role in political protests. Cosplay also reflects an important shift in the way younger generations deal with issues such as originality, authenticity and commerce. In this way, cosplay acts as a mirror of our times. So it’s high time to take a good look in that mirror.

Cosplay will be a unique exhibition in many ways. It is the first major museum exhibition on this subject in the Netherlands. The exhibition will be created entirely in co-creation with the cosplay community. With hundreds of loans from individual cosplayers, large amounts of film and photo material, and the use of many online sources, the exhibition can rightly be called unconventional. The design of the exhibition will be impressive: interactive, participatory, and creative.

Would you like to contribute ideas to this exhibition? Please contact the curator, Maan Leo, at mleo@designmuseum.nl.