David Bowie Exhibition Victoria and Albert museum London July 28th 2013
Marie, Laura and I travelled to London on Sunday. We were meeting up with David and Shona to go the “David Bowie Is” exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum. We’ve all read a lot about the exhibition and we are quite excited about it going to see it. It sold out quickly and by the time we got around to booking all that remained were tickets for evening shows, which had been added to satisfy the incredible demand. So we booked tickets for this Sunday evening. It seems ages ago since we bought the tickets.
From the V&A site: “23 March – 11 August 2013. The V&A has been given unprecedented access to the David Bowie Archive to curate the first international retrospective of the extraordinary career of David Bowie. David Bowie is features more than 300 objects that include handwritten lyrics, original costumes, fashion, photography, film, music videos, set designs and Bowie’s own instruments.”
Just got home. We really enjoyed the exhibition. I typed up some comments on my iPad on the train: The exhibition takes you from Bowie’s early days in London through to the present day. On show are exhibits from Bowie’s own collection, including hand written lyrics, and stage costumes alongside original album sleeve art work and period artefacts such as space toys, concert posters and musical instruments (a stylaphone and a saxophone). On arrival we were each given a headset to where, which played a selection of David Bowie tracks as we moved through the exhibition space, the tracks relating to each period as we came to it. It was fascinating to see hand written lyrics for Starman and Heroes and the early synth tat Brian Eno played on the latter song. Also on show are exhibits relating to Bowie’s influences, including posters for Warhol events, and the musical Cabaret. As you make your way through the space, the many faces and persona of the man are revealed. The costumes alone are worth the price of admission, ranging from the early Ziggy cat suits, through the stark black suit and white shirt of the Thin White Duke to the extravagant costume influenced by Bowie’s role in Labyrith. Of particular interest to me (and items I would love to own) are an original poster from the Ziggy era (it took me right back; I can remember the same poster on display around Newcastle at the tie the Ziggy tour called at the City Hall), a programme for the 1969 tour where Bowie supported Humble Pie, and a poster for a gig at the Festival Hall where he shared a bill with Tyrannosaurus Rex and Roy Harper ( and DJ John Peel). Now those were the days!
We called into the shop on the way out, buying a poster and a badge, while resisting the rather expensive hard back book (I am regretting doing so already, and may yet buy a copy online 🙂 ). Laura bought a poster, some postcards and a Ziggy plectrum.
29 Jul
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by Marie on July 29, 2013 at 3:36 am
Sounds great! I look forward to reading your review. 🙂
Posted by Marie on July 30, 2013 at 1:07 am
Great review! I’d love to see this exhibition – thanks for posting.