Unfinished films, musicals and handwritten notes are among the treasures revealed in David Bowie’s archive, which opens to the public this week at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
The collection of more than 90,000 items, acquired from Bowie’s estate, includes plans for an unmade film titled Young Americans, in which his fictional astronaut Major Tom is sent to «a disgruntled America.» Curator Madeleine Haddon described it as «reflective on what it’s like to be a Brit in the U.S., and thinking about international politics and their place in the world.»
Another abandoned project, The Spectator, was a stage musical about an 18th-century London outlaw that Bowie was working on before his death in 2016 at the age of 69.
The newly opened David Bowie Centre, part of the V&A East Storehouse in east London’s Olympic Park, allows visitors to access everything from stage outfits and instruments to letters, photos and even Bowie’s to-do lists.
«He was such a world-builder,» Haddon said. «Music was just one angle into the worlds he wanted to build.»
Highlights include costumes created with Alexander McQueen for Bowie’s 50th birthday concert, Ziggy Stardust outfits by Kansai Yamamoto, and personal keepsakes such as the key to his Berlin apartment shared with Iggy Pop. Fans can also view rejection letters Bowie received early in his career — including one from The Beatles’ label Apple Records in 1968.
V&A archivist Sabrina Offord said younger visitors have already shown strong interest in Bowie’s influence on fashion:
«The Alexander McQueen costumes and some of the Ziggy costumes are proving particularly popular.»
Almost a decade after his death, Bowie remains one of the most influential figures in modern culture, with the archive offering new insight into his creative process, from the iconic to the everyday.
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