Screaming start for V&A as 10,000 enjoy 3D Festival
THE launch of Dundee’s “worldclass” new art gallery was capped last night with a headline performance by Primal Scream.
Around 10,000 people enjoyed the 3D Festival in Slessor Gardens, Dundee, which also included performances from Lewis Capaldi and local chanteuse Charlotte Brimner and her band, Be Charlotte.
The gallery opens today but the balloted ticket-only opening weekend has sold out.
Earlier, Nicola Sturgeon called the new museum “world-class” as she toured the £80 million attraction for the first time.
She told the BBC: “It is absolutely stunning, breathtaking. I came here today with very high expectations but those expectations have been wildly exceeded.
“This is world class and I am overawed by what I’ve just seen. Externally it is stunning but the exhibitions inside really do take your breath away.”
The design galleries include 300 objects, including Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Oak Room, the carefully reconstructed interior of Miss Cranston’s Glasgow tearoom which has been not been seen in 50 years.
Ms Sturgeon said she had enjoyed the Ocean Liner exhibition and said the recreated Mackintosh Oak Room was “absolutely wonderful”.
The two-day festival will continue today with a programme dedicated to celebrating creative talent from the Dundee area. It will be free and un-ticketed.
Organisers expect up to 20,000 people to attend the two-day festival in total, a key event in Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018.
The Kengo Kuma-designed building is the striking centrepiece of the ongoing £1 billion regeneration of Dundee’s waterfront.
V&A Dundee director Philip Long said the festival was a “massive celebration” to mark the opening of the museum.
He said: “Over the two days of the festival around 20,000 people are expected to join us in Slessor Gardens for this important moment for all those who have supported and been involved in creating the new museum.
“The demand for tickets to Friday evening at the 3D Festival highlights the invaluable support the event and the museum has enjoyed, and Saturday is another great opportunity to get involved and celebrate the wonderful creative talent the city has to offer on the day V&A Dundee officially opens.”