The David Bowie Centre which houses the permanent archive of the late legendary singer that traces his impact on popular culture, has opened on 13 September at the Victoria & Albert Museum’s new storage site in east London, the V&A East Storehouse.
The centre was created to house icon’s extensive collection of more than 80,000 items, including handwritten lyrics, costumes, instruments, album artwork, music sheets, photography and sketches spanning six decades which offer personal insights into his creative process, and the ideas behind some of his era-defining projects.
Entrance is ticketed, personal viewings of items can be booked in advance
Access to visit the David Bowie Centre is free but ticketed, with new ticket drops every six weeks.
Visitors are invited on a personal journey to explore unseen aspects of Bowie’s extraordinary creative process. Members of the public can also book one-on-one time with their selected items in Bowie’s archive through the new Order an Object service and via appointments with the V&A Archives team.
Items include Bowie’s first ever instrument – a saxophone brought for him by his father in the early 1960s, iconic and unfinished costumes, stage sets, and Jim Henson-designed life-sized puppets of Bowie’s many personas for a music video that was never released.
Within the first week of object appointments going live, over 500 items have been requested for viewing by the public. The most popular object is a frockcoat designed by Alexander McQueen and David Bowie for his 50th Birthday Concert in 1997.
Paper-based items including sketches, designs, writings, lyrics, press cuttings, and photographic prints can be consulted through scheduling advance appointments with the Archives team on Thursdays and Fridays. Both methods of booking items from the David Bowie archive require at least two weeks’ notice.
Key highlights
The central space includes a dedicated area for exploring the archive further, where visitors who have booked a ticket to see the displays, can explore topic boxes housing curated selections of reproductions of archival material.
The centre is a working archive and collections store with reading areas and a study room. Around 200 highlights from the archive can be seen across nine rotating mini-displays that highlight key moments across Bowie’s career, his influences and collaborations, with never seen items including The Spectator, an unrealised musical he was working on until his death in 2016.
Also featured are over 400 iconic costumes and accessories including Freddie Burretti’s Ziggy Stardust looks, Kansai Yamamoto’s Aladdin Zane and Agnes b’s Heathen ensembles, as well as Bowie’s 1992 Thierry Mugler wedding suit.
There are also some 150 musical instruments and other sound equipment, designs, props and scenery for concerts, film and theatre. Bowie’s own desk is part of the archive, alongside notebooks, diaries, lyrics, correspondence, fan mail and over 70,000 photographic prints, negatives and transparencies.
A new film showcases performances and music videos spanning Bowie’s career and an interactive installation called ‘The Library of Connections’, traces the wide-spread impact of Bowie on popular culture from the sit-com Friends to Issey Miyake fashion and musicians such as Lady Gaga, Charli XCX, Janelle Monae and Kendrick Lamar.
The V&A acquired the David Bowie Archive in 2023 with support from the David Bowie Estate, Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group.
Photos by David Parry for the V&A
