The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureArt

David Bowie Is at the V&A

David Bowie Is at the V&A | Exhibition review
22 March 2013
Victoria Sanz-Henry
Avatar
Victoria Sanz-Henry
22 March 2013

David Bowie is boasts the perfect balance of historical interrogation and compelling declaration of a man with nothing to declare except his sequinned genes. A man who sold the world and lived to tell the tale: this is the definitive display of the world’s most revered chameleon, comedian, Corinthian and caricature, in all his slash-backed splendour.

Attempting to chronologise a man as unfathomably prolific and elusive as David Bowie would be daunting to even the keenest of historians. It comes as no surprise that this Goliathan feat was tackled by eminent fashion house Gucci, in conjunction with audio moguls Sennheiser. The 300-piece cognitive feast of three dimensional multi-faceted installations, displays and projections was carefully chosen by curators Geoffrey Marsh and Victoria Broackes from Bowie’s personal (and nigh obsessive) career spanning cache.

Electing a highlight of this exhibition is ultimately relative to taste and interest, as every piece plays an intrinsic role in the storytelling process – be it the guitar the 16-year-old singer played when he was still known as Davey Jones, to a pocket-size metal spoon carried on Bowie’s person for the sole purpose of consuming cocaine. On entering the stimulating realm of the Thin White Duke, we are met by the famous Kansai Yamamoto bodysuit created for Aladdin Sane (just one of multiple personae developed by the singer as catalysts for his expressive excesses). The exhibition showcases Bowie’s almost pathological need to reinvent and rediscover himself: tortured mime, cracked actor, artistic tricoteur, always ready and waiting to pounce on the next dynamic creative wave.

Segmented in two halves connecting 50 years of artistry, Bowie is carries guests through the swell of bespoke and visually stunning costumes, to handwritten lyrics, drawings and photographs, cleverly speculating a prefix to each area with “Bowie is…” and giving a wonderful air of voyeurism into an alien world. Armed with interactive audio-descriptive narratives, the exhibition is utterly immersive while maintaining a cohesive clarity and organisation. The crescendo comes in the form of live and unseen concert footage played on wall-filling screens, resulting in a moving and impressive experience, largely confirming that (to quote The Dame himself): He is David Bowie, and you are not.

Victoria Sanz-Henry
Photos: Lucia Hrdà

David Bowie Is is at the V&A from 23rd March until 11th August 2013, for further information visit their website here.

Related Itemsreview

More in Art

Africa Fashion at the V&A

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Edvard Munch: Masterpieces from Bergen

★★★★★
James White
Read More

Summer Exhibition 2022 at the Royal Academy of Arts

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Penny Goring: Penny World at ICA

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Metamorphosis and flow: Orlanda Broom debuts powerful abstract show Shapeshifters at Grove Square Galleries

The editorial unit
Read More

Feminine Power: The Divine to the Demonic at the British Museum

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Cornelia Parker at Tate Britain

★★★★★
James White
Read More

Our Time on Earth at the Barbican

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms at Tate Modern

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Ed Sheeran at Wembley Stadium
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Eagles bring a nostalgia-laden evening to the BST Festival in Hyde Park
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Africa Fashion at the V&A
    ★★★★★
    Art
  • “He used to spit at the audience, roll on the ground, he did, in fact, hump that plastic dog – he was the original punk rocker”: Baz Luhrman, Tom Hanks, Austin Butler, Olivia DeJonge and Alton Mason on Elvis
    Cinema & Tv
  • Tigers
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Terminal List
    ★★★★★
    amazon
  • Baymax!
    ★★★★★
    disney
  • Parisian bar Little Red Door to take over Adam Handling’s Eve Bar on 7 July
    Food & Drinks
  • Netflix Walking Tour
    ★★★★★
    Cinema & Tv
  • Chelsea Flower Show 2022: Greenery and wellbeing
    Fashion & Lifestyle
  • Netflix Walking Tour
    ★★★★★
    Cinema & Tv
  • Africa Fashion at the V&A
    ★★★★★
    Art
  • Minions: The Rise of Gru
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Rollings Stones give Glasto a run for its money at BST Festival in Hyde Park
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • “He used to spit at the audience, roll on the ground, he did, in fact, hump that plastic dog – he was the original punk rocker”: Baz Luhrman, Tom Hanks, Austin Butler, Olivia DeJonge and Alton Mason on Elvis
    Cinema & Tv
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Steptoe and Son at Lyric Hammersmith | Theatre review
Simply Fish in Shoreditch | Restaurant review