The V&A has revealed new details on the David Bowie Centre, which opens as part of the V&A East Storehouse in east London on 13 September.
The David Bowie Centre will include a display curated by American musician and songwriter Nile Rodgers and indie rock band The Last Dinner Party.
Rodgers and The Last Dinner Party have selected a series of objects from the David Bowie archive, which includes more than 90,000 items, for the rotating display.
Rodgers has included a bespoke Peter Hall suit worn by Bowie during a tour for the Let’s Dance album, and photographs of Bowie, Rodgers and guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan recording ‘Let’s Dance’ in New York.
Also chosen by Rodgers is his own personal correspondence with Bowie about the Black Tie White Noise album, and Peter Gabriel images of recording sessions.
Rodgers said: “My creative life with David Bowie provided the greatest success of his incredible career, but our friendship was just as rewarding.
“Our bond was built on a love of the music that had both made and saved our lives.”
Rotating displays at David Bowie Centre
The Last Dinner Party has selected objects mostly from the 1970s to show how Bowie continues to inspire artists.
These include Mick Rock photos of Bowie in the recording studio, Bowie’s handwritten lyrics for ‘Win’ from the Young Americans album, and his Electronic Music Studios (EMS) synthesiser user manual.
Georgia Davies, Lizzie Mayland, Abigail Morris, Aurora Nishevci and Emily Roberts of The Last Dinner Party said: “Bowie is a constant source of inspiration to us.”
They added, “It was such a thrill to explore Bowie’s archive, and see first-hand the process that went into his world-building and how he created a sense of community and belonging for those that felt like outcasts or alienated – something that’s really important to us in our work too.”
For the new attraction, the V&A acquired a vast 90,000-piece archive of material from the estate of David Bowie, which includes handwritten lyrics, costumes, photos, music videos, musical instruments and more.
The David Bowie Centre will not showcase all 90,000 objects at once.
Instead, they will be put on view as part of rotating displays, and guests will be able to order items that aren’t on display to look at closely.
V&A East Storehouse, a collection and research centre, is part of V&A East, which includes the V&A East Museum.
Images courtesy of V&A
