To distract myself from the seemingly endless job
applications I decided to take myself to the V&A to see whether Bowie Is
lived up to the hype and also check out the Club to Catwalk exhibition.
I wouldn’t consider myself a Bowie fan, but after the hype surrounding
the exhibition and the fact that it sold out so quickly, I really wanted to
have a look. The first room feature lots
of bits and bobs. Costumes, pieces of sheet music, album covers, AMAZING
platform shoes and films with collaborators of Bowie talking about working with
him. One thing I found particularly
interesting was a computer programme, which Bowie had developed to randomly
generate sentences that he may use as inspiration for lyrics or as the lyrics
themselves. Another interesting exhibit
was a mime film starring Bowie as a character who finds a mask and uses it to
perform but in the end can’t remove it, a thought provoking piece that really
considers how his character became him and the two lines between Bowie the
performer and the person blurred. Also, who knew Bowie was a mime artist! Something
more pop stars nowadays should be doing in my opinion.
On entering the exhibition you were given a headset which
was triggered into different Bowie tracks or commentaries as you moved around
the exhibition. I thought this was a
fantastic idea however sometimes it felt like a bit of an information
overload. At one point I was trying to
read a panel of text, which hearing another commentary in my head all fighting
against the Bowie tracks playing out in the room itself. If everyone is wearing headsets trying to
watch documentary footage or listen to commentary it can be distracting to have
music playing out in the room generally. Also, one other slight complaint about
the headphones, they really started to hurt after a while, unless I just hadn’t
managed to adjust them correctly.
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| Album cover shoot for Aladdin Sane, 1973. Photograph by Brian Duffy © Duffy Archivehttp://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/david-bowie-is/about-the-exhibition/ |
The most impressive element of the exhibition was one of the
final spaces that featured huge screens showing footage of Bowie in
concert. The screens also hid some Bowie
costumes that were revealed occasionally by lighting. With spaces to sit and just take it all in, it was a fantastic immersive experience. When they were showing footage of him
performing Heroes I have to admit I
got a bit emotional. After it’s use
throughout London 2012 I’m sure many people felt the same, it took me right
back to the Olympic Stadium and cheering on David Weir’s victory lap after he
won gold. One of my favourite things about music, how it can bring back emotions and particular events so clearly.
Overall it was a good exhibition, I think that avid Bowie
fans would have appreciated it more than me although it was interesting to gain
some background into songs I have grown up around. The only thing I expected, that wasn’t really
focused on much, was Bowie’s influence on the artists to follow him, but they had
crammed a lot in regardless of this!
Next I headed off to see Club to Catwalk, London Fashion in
the 1980s. There were some absolutely bonkers costumes there. Apparently the London fashion schools were
empty Fridays because all the students were busy preparing their costumes for
clubs such as Blitz, were it seemed anything goes – the madder the better. I loved watching the fashion show footage
too, so much more fun than shows seem lately, with people just dancing all over
the catwalk and one piece of footage where all the models fell to the floor and
then a child runs out and jumps on them and they all rolled forward, creating a
wave effect. Brilliant!
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| http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-from-club-to-catwalk-london-fashion-in-the-80s/about-the-exhibition/ |
I’m not sure I’d consider wearing any of the costumes on
display, maybe for fancy dress. But it
did make the 80s in London seem like a really fun place if you were in the
right clique.
Overall another fun day to myself exploring exhibitions,
keep them coming please!
