As a result of the V&A museum’s acquisition of David Bowie’s archival materials, fans will have unprecedented access to the musician’s life, work, and legacy.
More than eighty thousand letters, lyrics, photographs, stage designs, music awards, and costumes make up the collection.
It also has several of the musician’s personal instruments, including the Stylophone he played in his 1969 hit track Space Oddity.
In 2025, the archive will be displayed in a newly designed east London site.
The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will serve as a “reference manual for the Bowies of tomorrow,” according to the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Dr. Tristram Hunt.
Senior curator Kate Bailey, who previously worked on the museum’s pioneering David Bowie Is… show in 2013, remarked, “It’s an incredible gift.”
“It details Bowie’s entire career. There are irreplaceable pieces from his earliest days in the 1960s to his most recent album, The Next Day (2013), and beyond.
“I found it intriguing – the personal insights, the handwritten lyrics, and the interaction with other creative practitioners regarding how a song is composed, produced, and edited.
All of these things are extraordinarily wealthy and potent.
The Ziggy Stardust costumes made by Freddie Burretti in 1972 and the union jack jackets designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the Earthling album cover in 1997 are also noteworthy.
The collection also includes Brian Eno’s EMS synthesizer, which was utilized on David Bowie’s Low and Heroes albums from 1977, as well as samples of his “cut-up” technique for lyric creation, which consisted of literally slicing up existing words to create new meanings from the rearranged bits.
Ms. Bailey stated that the archive was conserved with “extraordinary care” and “careful attention to detail.”
“These artifacts, these documents were important to him, and because he was continually going forward creatively, it was helpful for him to park, gather, and store [everything] in order to move on to the next character or project.”
The David Bowie Estate and a £10 million grant from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group made possible the V&A’s acquisition and the development of the Bowie center.
In a news release, a representative for David Bowie’s estate stated:
“With the inclusion of David’s life’s work in the national collections of the United Kingdom, he takes his rightful place among many other cultural icons and artistic geniuses.”
The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performance and the behind-the-scenes access provided by the V&A East Storehouse will allow David’s work to be shared with the public in ways never previously feasible.
Nile Rodgers, a producer, and guitarist who collaborated with David Bowie on the 1983 album Let’s Dance added: “If only one artist could be included in the V&A, it should be David Bowie, I believe everyone would agree.
“He didn’t simply make art, he was art!”
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