Thoughts on the David Bowie Centre over at V&E East.
tl;dr Where’s Dave? I struggled to find him in spirt amongst the sterile setting of the vast storehouse out east.
Actually, that’s a little unfair.
The DB Collection itself is a right faff to find. Once I had dragged my arse all the way over from Stratford tube, past the Copper Box and then a bit further to the V&E, all would be fine, I thought.
Wrong.
There was zero signage for the DB Collection. Or nothing visible that leaps out at you.
I had a tight deadline as I was booked in at a specific time slot. I had to find the Collection or lose my spot.
I asked a staff member - who was looking cool as fuck, in the oh so urban V&E livery.
“Up two flights of stairs and turn left by aisle 27.”
OK…
And so I headed up two flights, turned left, and then nothing except more racks hoarding the world’s largest jumble sale of tat, aka the new V&E Storehouse.
I asked another staff member. This time I was given more detailed instructions.
Ah - so there’s the entrance. But yeah, what a bloody faff.
The V&E has been keen to hype up the DB Centre with limited drops for ticket availability. If something is so hot, then I would want to make a splash about it at the actual Storehouse.
What awaits inside is a curated selection of the 90,000 items from the Bowie archive, all entrusted to the V&A for a public show and tell.
That’s obviously a lot of floor space needed, which isn’t there. And so the items are rotated every few months or so.
It’s a clever marketing ploy for repeat visits, even if tickets are free.
Exit through the gift shop, etc.
I made my way into what I thought was the first room. It turned out to be the only room.
Oh. So is that it?
It’s not that the DB Centre is dull, but it is lacking in any sense of the artist being amongst you. One large video screen doesn’t cut it.
For such a visual artist, it’s a little odd that some of his costumes are packaged up in suit bags, and then hung up on high.
Dave? DAVE?
Anyone home?
The QR thing was also a right pain. Little context is given in the display cabinets themselves. You need to access pdfs on your phone via the QR code to get a basic item description.
I found myself blue screening at my bloody phone, rather than actually engaging with some major artefacts of cultural significance that were right in front of my eyes.
When I did look up, there were some lovely moments. The TOTP Starman jacket, the Ziggy bodysuit knitwear, and even the Steve McQueen designed Earthling Union jacket are on display.
Bowie was at his best when he had the best hairstyle - which has to be 1975 and Young Americans, right? The display covering the plastic soul period is great.
Not so thrilling was the Yahoo! Internet Life Online Music Award.
I had a genuine wtf moment in seeing a Gail Ann Dorsey stage outfit with a retro Forest patch sewn in.
It was quite relaxed in the small space. My one memory from the paid for David Bowie Is at the V&E back in 2013 was the bunfight to view anything.
And so despite the schlep out East, despite the difficulty in finding the front door, and despite the Where’s Dave? angle, the DB Centre is probably worth a visit.
I hope that more can be made of the great man during future visits, given the vastness of the archive available.
