David Bowie Exhibition in London to Lure Fans Next Year

The music icon’s life as an innovator and star will be detailed at an exhibition in the British capital’s famous V&A museum. David Bowie as a musical innovator and cultural icon will form the basis for an upcoming exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the British capital early next year.

The musician’s career will form the basis for the exhibition after the V&A was granted “unprecedented” access to the David Bowie Archive.

Entitled “David Bowie Is,” the exhibition promises handwritten lyrics, original costumes, fashion, photography and Bowie’s own instruments among the exhibits.

Running March 23 through July 28 at the world’s “greatest museum of art and design,” the exhibition promises to explore Bowie’s collaborations with other artists and will include more than 60 stage costumes including original Ziggy Stardust bodysuits from 1972 and outfits designed for his Aladdin Sane and Thin White Duke characters.

Other exhibits include the Union Jack coat designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the Earthling album cover in 1997.

Works by photographers including Herb Ritts, Helmut Lang, Brian Duffy and Terry O’Neill will also be included.

“David Bowie is a true icon, more relevant to popular culture now than ever,” is how V&A director Martin Roth described Bowie to the BBC adding the singer is a “true icon, more relevant to popular culture now than ever.”

Bowie’s song “Heroes” has been omnipresent at the ceremonies during both the London 2012 Olympics and the London 2012 Paralympics, playing out in the venues.

It is the first time a museum has been given access to the David Bowie Archive.

But Bowie last week released a statement denying he had been involved in helping curate the event.

“Contrary to recently published reports relating to the announcement by the V&A of an upcoming David Bowie Exhibition, I am not a co-curator and did not participate in any decisions relating to the exhibition,” he said in his statement published on Facebook.

“The David Bowie Archive gave unprecedented access to the V&A and [the] museum’s curators have made all curatorial and design choices. A close friend of mine tells me that I am neither ‘devastated’, ‘heartbroken’ nor ‘uncontrollably furious’ by this news item.”

The exhibition promises insight into the artist’s early years from the the artist’s first musical steps as David Robert Jones before he officially adopted the stage name David Bowie in 1965.

Personal items on display will include handwritten set lists, musical scores, word collages and diary entries.

Source: Hollywood Reporter