David Bowie’s shape-shifting abilities will be celebrated in a new attraction from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, featuring more than 90,000 items of Bowie memorabilia.
The David Bowie Centre will open next year in the V&A’s new east London in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which will also house the Glastonbury Festival archive.
Included among the exhibited items will be handwritten lyrics to Bowie’s 1975 song “Fame”, 1977’s “Heroes” and 1980’s “Ashes to Ashes”, and costumes worn during his Ziggy Stardust period.
Through his restless creativity, Bowie created and killed off a number of guises, from Ziggy Stardust to Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke, underpinning these guises with lyrical references to writers such as George ORwell and Jean Genet, along with artistic movements such as Surrealism.
He died aged 69 on 10 January 2016, two dates after releasing his 25th and final album, Blackstar.
The announcement of the new Bowie Centre comes after the V&A acquired Bowie’s archive with the help of his estate, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group.
The V&A East Storehouse will open on 31 May 2025, while the David Bowie Centre will open on 13 September 2025.
The centre will be spread across three zones, which will include curated displays, audio visual installations and quieter study areas where visitors can explore the Bowie archive – from musical instruments to stage models – on their own.
Smaller displays will tell the stories behind the musician’s albums and look at his fascinating and unique creative approach, seen in his many collaborations and unrealised projects.
Tim Reeve, deputy director of the V&A, said: "The opening of V&A East Storehouse next May delivers on our ambition to create a new standard for access to national collections, in an area of London with such a rich creative heritage and vibrant and talented creative community."
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: "The opening of the V&A East Storehouse next year will be a wonderful addition to our capital’s cultural landscape.
"The working store will offer Londoners and visitors unprecedented free access to a wide variety of creative works, from Roman artefacts to modern-day music archives.
"It’s another hugely significant moment in the creation of our powerhouse for innovation, creativity and learning at East Bank, as we build a better London for everyone."
The East Storehouse is the first of two new V&A attractions opening in east London, followed by the launch of the V&A East Museum, which is set to open in spring 2026.
The V&A has been leaning into pop music in recent years, having held a special Taylor Swift exhibition in July featuring items from the pop titan’s childhood and recording career.
Among the items on display were a pair of custom-made cowboy boots worn by Swift when she opened for husband-and-wife duo Tim McGraw and Faith Hill during their Soul2Soul II tour in 2007, and the black ruffled dress she wore in her 2024 music video for “Fortnight”.
In May, an exhibition of hundreds of photos collected by Sir Elton John went on display at the museum, including shots by Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Avedon (of The Beatles), and Herman Leonard (of Chet Baker).
