Page 56 - The Bite Magazine - Spring Summer 2013

From the 23rd March until the 11th August this year, the
V&A Museum will be celebrating one of music’s most iconic,
influential, and enigmatic figures, David Bowie. With an
exhibition of 300 artifacts, including photographs, costumes
and many more objects that have defined the artist, the
exhibition provides a detailed study of his long career. The
title of the exhibition is simply David Bowie Is and has been
collated by curators Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh to
create a smorgasbord of photographs, costumes, music videos
and film pieces, set designs, album artwork, the artist’s own
musical instruments, and even handwritten song lyrics. There
will be so much for the die-hard fans, casual fans, and even the
simply curious, to devour and explore.
The purpose of the exhibition
is to document and understand
the influence of Bowie on the
world of music, art, design, and
pop culture, and also to explore
how he himself was influenced
by other such elements.
Furthermore, the exhibition
will attempt to discuss how
people have been encouraged
by Bowie’s work to embrace
their individuality and to defy
convention, with “freedom
of expression” playing a big
role in the dissection of the
artist’s widespread influence
on others.
The exhibition begins with a detailed look at the artist’s early
years and formative involvement with music and the arts.
Born in 1947 in Brixton, David Robert Jones (Bowie’s birth
name), like many other future artists born into the same era,
would have had several influences not just from the arts
and entertainment but also from the social and political
aspects of the Britain he knew as a youth, and many of
these elements are exhibited and/or discussed in this
first section. It also documents his work with his first
bands in the 1960s - The Kon-rads and The King
Bees, including set design and costume design
sketches that he made for said bands. To
round off the opening section is a look
at Bowie’s second album Space Oddity,
and its title track, his first true hit
song. Inspirations for the project
including Stanley Kubrick’s 2001:
A Space Odyssey and the 1969
moon landing, which the song was
released in time to coincide with,
are also looked at in great detail.
Section two examines Bowie’s
creative processes, which branched
out from song writing and recording
to designing stage sets and costumes and
the creation of album artwork, many of
which are some of the most iconic examples
RACHEL JONES
GIVES US AN
INSIGHT OFWHAT
TO EXPECT AT THE
DAVID BOWIE IS
EXHIBITION BEING
HELD AT THEV&A
MUSEUM.
EXHIBITION AT V&A MUSEUM