The Victoria and Albert Museum in London will house more than 80,000 items throughout David Bowie‘s career at the new David Bowie Center for the Study of Performing Arts, which will open in 2025.
Videos by American Songwriter
The new center is part of the V&A East Storehouse, which will open in 2024 at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the Stratford section of London. An adjacent facility, the V&A East Museum, will house the Bowie center and open in 2025.
In addition to more than 70,000 photographs of Bowie taken by famed photographers, including Helmut Newton, Brian Duffy, and Terry O’Neill, the collection will also feature the artist’s handwritten lyrics, stage costumes, letters, videos, and films. The exhibit also will include Bowie’s instruments, album artwork, awards, and set designs, spanning his 50-plus-year career.
Some of Bowie’s most eccentric fashions over the decades will also be on display, from his Ziggy Stardust attire to the outfits designed by Kansai Yamamoto for his Alladin Sane Tour, and his Union Jack coat, which was designed by Bowie and the late British designer Alexander McQueen for the 1997 Earthling album cover.
Additionally, some of Bowie’s “intimate writings, thought processes, and unrealised projects” will also be on display.
“With David’s life’s work becoming part of the U.K.’s national collections, he takes his rightful place amongst many other cultural icons and artistic geniuses,” said the David Bowie Estate in a statement. “David’s work can be shared with the public in ways that haven’t been possible before, and we’re so pleased to be working closely with the V&A to continue to commemorate David’s enduring cultural influence.”
This latest museum project follows the successful, worldwide run of David Bowie is, a touring exhibit that premiered in London in 2013 — coincidentally at the Victoria and Albert Museum — and traveled to several major cities before closing in Brooklyn, New York, in 2018. David Bowie is was an extensive and immersive look at the history of his life and career in music, films, and tours.
“I believe everyone will agree with me when I say that when I look back at the last 60 years of post-Beatles music that if only one artist could be in the V&A it should be David Bowie,” said Nile Rodgers, who produced Bowie’s 1983 album Let’s Dance. “He didn’t just make art. He was art.”
Photo: Brian Rasic/Getty
