V&A David Bowie Is Exhibition

♪ - Life on Mars by David Bowie

I have friends who are die hard Bowie fans and it was suggested that for one of their birthdays we visit the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) to see the ‘David Bowie is’ exhibition. At first this idea didn’t seem too exciting to me as I had never really understood the David Bowie hype. I am however a HUGE music lover who loves analysing lyrics so I was really interested to learn more about his song writing process.

After we were given our headsets on arrival, meaning we could tune in and listen to different parts of the exhibition as we went around, we walked into the exhibition and if I’m honest I was not blown away. The first part of the exhibition featured a pile of oranges at one side and some tiles at the other. Uh oh, this did not excite me. However, as I entered into the second part of the room I could hear David Bowie’s voice through the headphones and the exhibition came to life.

I found myself able to relate to a young David Bowie, wanting to be creative in a range of ways but not really knowing which path to take. The characters created in his songs, and the way it inspires his song writing to have multiple meanings, captivated me.

My favourite room of the exhibition had a high ceiling with many screens playing David Bowie in concert. After seeing old papers with Bowie’s handwritten lyrics and chords, paintings, ideas for CD covers and costumes this room made the hairs on the back of hands stand on end as it brought all of it together.

Since my visit I have purchased ‘The Best of Bowie’ CD and will no doubt be playing it constantly in my car.

The exhibition is running until August 11^th 2013 and is well worth a visit if you are Bowie or a music lover.

For more information visit the Victoria and Albert website: 
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/david-bowie-is/

Have any of you been to the exhibition? I would be interested to know what your thoughts were.

Thanks for reading!

Lala

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