“Made for a real world”
After an unprecedented success in London, the V&A’s David Bowie is exhibition sadly comes to a close this coming Sunday August 11th.
However, the good news is that the show has now been confirmed for five other cities through to March 2016, with further international venues in negotiation.
David Bowie is will now visit Toronto, Sao Paulo, Chicago, Paris and Groningen.
Keep reading for further details.
David Bowie is
In partnership with Gucci
Sound experience by Sennheiser
23 March – 11 August 2013
LAST CHANCE TO SEE DAVID BOWIE IS
Around 300,000 people have already seen the V&A’s David Bowie is exhibition as it enters its closing week. The V&A has been running regular late night openings to cope with demand and the exhibition has been open until 22.00 every night for the final two weeks. Tickets are still available for purchase every day at the Museum.
To give people one last chance to see the exhibition in the UK the V&A has also commissioned a special film to be transmitted live to over 200 cinemas across the UK on 13 August. David Bowie is happening now will be a cinematic, behind-the-scenes tour of the exhibition in the company of curators Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh and celebrity guests who have worked closely with Bowie throughout his career, offering an insight into the stories behind some of the 300 objects on display from the David Bowie Archive. The film, directed by BAFTA winning director, Hamish Hamilton, will capture the excitement, atmosphere and innovative staging of David Bowie is and will include footage never screened beyond the exhibition.
The V&A sold over 67,000 tickets prior to the exhibition opening, more than three times the advance sales of any other V&A exhibition, including the extremely popular Hollywood Costume show. Over 46,000 exhibition books have been sold to date and 500 collector’s editions of the book, signed by David Bowie, sold out in 14 minutes online and in store. In addition 20,000 tote bags, 36,000 guitar picks, and 93,000 postcards created to accompany the exhibition have also been sold.
The opening of the exhibition in March was celebrated with special guests including Tilda Swinton, Tracey Emin, Dame Vivienne Westwood, Bill Nighy, La Roux, David Walliams and Lara Stone, Noel and Sarah Gallagher, Bianca Jagger, Paul Simonon, Gary Kemp, Nick Rhodes, Simon and Yasmin Le Bon, Douglas Booth, Matt Smith, Rosario Dawson, Annie Nightingale and Nick Grimshaw demonstrating Bowie’s lasting influence in all areas of contemporary culture. Since then a host of other notable figures have visited the exhibition including musicians Debbie Harry, Jarvis Cocker, Earl Slick, Paul Weller, PJ Harvey, the Pet Shop Boys and Kylie Minogue, comedians Tina Fey and Lenny Henry, actors Robert Redford, James Franco, Colin Firth, Cate Blanchett and Richard E Grant, film directors Wim Wenders and Pedro Almodovar, fashion designers Tom Ford and Anna Sui, models Kate Moss and Mary Charteris, Gucci’s Creative Director Frida Giannini and editors Anna Wintour and Glenda Bailey.
The exhibition will now commence an international tour. Confirmed venues are:
• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada from 25 September to 27 November 2013
• Museum of Image and Sound, Sao Paulo, Brazil from 28 January to 21 April 2014
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA from September 2014 to January 2015
• Philharmonie de Paris/ Cité de la Musique, Paris, France from 2 March to 31 May 2015
• Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands from 15 December 2015 to 15 March 2016
Further international venues are under discussion and will be confirmed soon.
Martin Roth, V&A Director said: “David Bowie’s story is so much about his audience, and the audience response to this exhibition has been quite phenomenal. I would like to thank all the visitors who have gone to such great lengths to see this extraordinary exhibition. I hope many more people get to experience it on film across the UK on 13 August, and then as it tours to venues around the globe.”
David Bowie is, is the first international retrospective of the extraordinary career of David Bowie – one of the most pioneering and influential performers of modern times. Over 300 objects including handwritten lyrics, original costumes, photography, set
designs, album artwork and rare performance material from the past five decades were brought together from the David Bowie Archive for the very first time. It demonstrated how Bowie’s work has both influenced and been influenced by wider movements in art, design, theatre and contemporary culture and focussed on his creative processes, shifting style and collaborative work with diverse designers in the fields of fashion, sound, graphics, theatre and film.
The exhibition’s multi-media design introduced Sennheiser’s advanced sound technology alongside theatrical scene-setting, original animations and video installations to create an immersive journey through the artistic influences that Bowie has cited as formative.