David Bowie Centre to open and host over 90,000 items at V&A East in London

nme.com:

David Bowie Centre.The new working store and visitor attraction will be open to the public from May 31, and located at East Bank – the new cultural quarter in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

It is set to home over 500,000 works, including the Glastonbury Festival Archives, costumes from PJ Harvey and Elton John, designer couture, vintage shirts, Samurai swords and many more.

It will also house over 100 curated mini-displays.While the East Storehouse will open in the spring, later in the year, the long-awaited David Bowie Centre will be opening at the new site and expected to contain an archive of over 90,000 items related to the iconic artist.The items will trace Bowie’s “creative processes as a musical innovator, cultural icon, and advocate for self-expression and reinvention”, and have been acquired by the V&A through the David Bowie Estate, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group.Highlights of the centre will include some of the singer’s most iconic outfits throughout the years, as well as lyrics for his songs and various examples of his ‘cut up’ method of writing, which he was introduced to through writer William Burroughs.A post shared by David Bowie (@davidbowie)First teased back in February 2023, the centre will open on September 13 next year and will be split into three separate zones.

It will also have a mix of small, curated displays and audio-visual installations, alongside quieter study areas where visitors can explore aspects of the archive on their own.“From Bowie’s iconic costume to musical instruments, make-up charts, stage models, Oblique Strategies card decks, personal notes, writings, lyrics and music, sketches, designs and more, at V&A East Storehouse, visitors can get closer to David.