Bowie, and his personas, will live on at museum
Over a 55-year career, David Bowie redefined the essence of cool by embracing an outsider status. Now Ziggy Stardust and all of the musician's other personas will have a permanent home.
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London will house more than 80,000 items from Bowie's career at a new David Bowie Center for the Study of Performing Arts, the museum announced last week. The center, which will be at a new outpost of the museum called the V&A East Storehouse at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the Stratford section of London, will open in 2025.
“With David's life's work becoming part of the U.K.'s national collections, he takes his rightful place amongst many other cultural icons and artistic geniuses,” Bowie's estate said in a statement. “David's work can be shared with the public in ways that haven't been possible before, and we're so pleased to be working closely with the V&A to continue to commemorate David's enduring cultural influence.”
Bowie died in 2016, two days after his 69th birthday.
In a statement, the museum said that the acquisition and the creation of the center had been made possible by a combined donation of about $12 million from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group, adding that the donation would support “the ongoing conservation, research and study of the archive.” Warner Music bought Bowie's entire songwriting catalog last year.
Beyond 70,000 images of Bowie taken by the likes of Terry O'Neill, Brian Duffy and Helmut Newton, the collection includes letters, sheet music, original costumes, fashion, other photography, film, music videos, set designs, instruments, album artwork, awards and of course fashion.
Many of those will be familiar to fans: Bowie's ensembles worn as his alter ego, Ziggy Stardust; Kansai Yamamoto's costumes for the “Aladdin Sane” tour in 1973; the Union Jack coat designed by Bowie and British designer Alexander McQueen for the 1997 “Earthling” album cover.
Handwritten lyrics for songs like “Fame,” Heroes” and “Ashes to Ashes” also will be on display.