David Bowie Is
David Bowie is…many things, to many people. He was indisputably one of the most influential figures of popular culture in the last half century. As a result, it would be an enormous challenge for any retrospective to encapsulate his career, which spanned five decades and encompassed many elements—music, film, theater, design and beyond. Unprecedented access to the David Bowie Archive by V&A curators Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh, combined with intelligent use of advanced multimedia technology, has made possible the creation of a comprehensive audio and visual experience that is not just another art show, but more like a total immersion art installation.
Every visitor is handed a free audio guide, and recognizable tunes such as ‘Ziggy Stardust’, clips of interviews, mumbled narration and ambient noise follow you from room to room. The exhibition is rigged to feed your ears different sounds depending on what part of it you’re in, with the result that you feel as if you’re wandering through Bowie’s own memories of his career, instead of rooms in a museum.
The extraordinary exhibition focuses mainly on Bowie’s creative process, and his collaborations with various artists and designers. It demonstrates how the diversity of his work has both influenced and been influenced by wider movements in art, design, music and theater, from Andy Warhol to Japanese Kabuki theater and German art song. Of the 300 items on display, many have never before been made available to the public.
The most visually impressive aspects of the exhibition are the 60+ pieces of original stage attire sported by Bowie-sized mannequins posing in front of mirrors or next to archived video footage. These include Kansai Yamamoto’s impossible-looking creations for the Aladdin Sane tour in 1973, and the Union Jack coat designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the Earthling album cover in 1997. Also on display are photos (by Brian Duffy, Terry O’Neill and others), album sleeve artwork (by Guy Peellaert and Edward Bell), cover proofs, journal entries, hand-drawn sketches, lyrics and notes, his saxophone and his guitar, alongside excerpts from films, interviews and music videos.
What is missing from the exhibition is as interesting as what is included. Absent are any details about Bowie’s personal life after his teenage years, but this doesn’t mean that the exhibition feels impersonal; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Tucked in quietly among the flashy platform boots and the movie props are everyday items such as Bowie’s own set of keys from his flat in Berlin, items that almost take you by surprise in their unfamiliar familiarity. You leave the exhibition with a sense that you almost knew the man.
The exhibition ends, in typical Bowie style, with a spectacle: multiple levels of life-size mannequins showing off original costumes from all phases of Bowie’s career fade in and out of view with the flashing of lights and the larger-than-life projections of archived concert footage. The ultimate effect would almost be sensory overload, except that it is executed with such elegance and attention to detail.