Unit X - Superstitions

Research + Exhibitions - David Bowie Is

The Victoria and Albert Museum is currently showing an exhibition on the life, times and works of David Bowie. This exhibition is something i've been following during its set up and have been desperate to see. I managed to get tickets and went to see the exhibition (Wednesday 3rd April 2013)

Before seeing this exhibition, I wasn't a huge of a Bowie, music wise, as it was a bit before my time. However, I have always been interested in his style and personas, with celebs now taking inspiration, from Lady Gaga to Kate Moss to Noel Fielding. This just shows how relevant Bowie was and still is now.

 The exhibition itself featured everything and anything you would want to see about Bowies life. Walking round, you started from Bowie as a child/teen then all the way through his Ziggy Stardust era. The V&A displayed costumes and outfits that Bowie wore on stage and during photo shoots, handwritten lyrics, paintings, photographs and videos of interviews with Bowie and his friends and even artwork that Bowie had created himself (something I never knew before looking around the exhibition). 

What I really loved about the exhibition is how much I actually learnt walking round, each piece of memorabilia had a story to tell you about why it was relevant and the back story behind it. Each costume had the designer and influences, some even having the sketches of ideas from Bowie and the designers. This was very interesting as you could see how Bowies mind worked and how much time he spent putting effort into his costumes and keeping up the different characters he took on. 

The room that was most fascinating was the main room, which featured three huge screens, the size of the room, each playing stage performances from different stages in Bowies career. Behind these screens were mannequins each in their own box, showing the different, most famous, costumes of Bowies, only being visible and certain times throughout the performance. As soon I entered the room, I was instantly stopped in my tracks. The sheer volume of the room and screens was one reason but what was most amazing was the amount of people in the room, all watching the same performance ('Life on Mars' live) and how each person was instantly connected to this man. There were people of all ages watching the performance, from the people who remember Bowie in his prime or people like me, who are just learning about Bowie and his unusual style. I have never had a feeling like that when entering an exhibition before.

Overall, the 'David Bowie Is' exhibition is one of the best exhibitions I have ever seen, not only for the fact there has never been one like this before, but for the sheer volume of information and different objects on display. The exhibition was so busy, that it took three hours to get round, this just goes to shows how much of an influence Bowie still has.