London’s V&A East Storehouse is set to welcome visitors into the glittering and glamorous world of David Bowie, celebrating the life and work of one of music’s most gifted, enigmatic figures.
The David Bowie Centre has whittled down the 90,000 artefacts acquired from Bowie’s estate by the Victoria and Albert Museum into 200 carefully chosen treasures.
The archive occupies part of the V&A East Storehouse, a hybrid warehouse-museum that opened in June in east London’s Olympic Park. As with the storehouse as a whole, visitors can book appointments to see any of the items for free – and in many cases handle them, under supervision.
From Freddie Burretti’s Life on Mars? suit, the stunning asymmetric catsuit by Kansai Yamamoto for Ziggy Stardust, the Union Jack frockcoat Bowie designed with Alexander McQueen for the Earthling tour to the wings of the Glass Spider era, the David Bowie Centre spans decades of his ever-evolving aesthetic.
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David Bowie’s 1997 Union Jack frock coat, designed with Alexander McQueen, displayed at the new David Bowie Centre at London’s V&A East Storehouse – Credit: AP Photo
A general view of the David Bowie Centre, a new archive at the V&A East Storehouse in London. – Credit: AP Photo
Harriet Reed, curator of Contemporary Performance at V&A East, emphasises the breadth of the collection: “The archive is an incredible treasure trove that spans his 50-year career, from, sketches that he’s done, handwritten lyrics, costumes, instruments, even fan art, merchandise, props, set models, everything you could possibly associate with Bowie.”
Visitors can marvel at Bowie’s handwritten annotations on the first page of his musical Lazarus, notes from the recording sessions of Low – the first of his Berlin Trilogy with Brian Eno – and sketches for album covers.
“The notes he made, the to-do lists, things where he’s making a record of the exhibitions he wants to see, the films he wants to see, books he wants to read, that kind of devouring of culture is really fascinating to know why he was so restlessly creative” says Reed.
Bowie donned and shed personas as he moved through musical styles, from glam rock to soul, electronica and collaborations with British jungle and drum ‘n’ bass musicians, including A Guy Called Gerald and Goldie.
He also acted in movies and on Broadway, collaborated on stage shows, painted and embraced technology, setting up a 1990s internet service provider called BowieNet.
Handwritten lyrics for song ‘Win’ from album ‘Young Americans’, written by David Bowie, 1974. – Credit: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Drawing for Space Oddity album artwork, by David Bowie, 1969 – Credit: The David Bowie Archive
The exhibition also sheds light on Bowie’s unfinished ventures, most poignantly “The Spectator” – an 18th-century musical inspired by a notorious London outlaw, developed in the final months before his death from cancer in January 2016 at the age of 69.
Alongside this were plans for a stage adaptation of Orwell’s 1984 and a never-realised project set in Mumbai titled Leon in India.
Fittingly the exhibition is designed to evolve – thematic displays will rotate every six months, ensuring that new objects and stories continue to emerge.
“We want visitors to be inspired by Bowie, to pursue their own creativity, discover new stories and make unexpected connections between Bowie, contemporary discussions and themselves,” says curator Madeleine Haddon.
The David Bowie Centre opens to the public on 13 September.
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