Video: David Bowie is…’ exhibition makes last, and largest stop, at Brooklyn Museum

DAVID BOWIE IS’ EXHIBITION MAKES LAST, AND LARGEST STOP, AT BROOKLYN MUSEUM Five years after premiering in London, a comprehensive David Bowie exhibit is making its last and most potent stop when it opens at the Brooklyn Museum in New York on Friday (2 MARCH). “David Bowie is” will be one of the biggest the museum has ever done. It includes iconic costumes, video footage, and some offbeat items too.

Victoria Broackes, from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, co-curated the exhibit. She explains how Bowie was chosen for the initial 2013 exhibition. “We actually had Bowie on the top of a really short list of people we wanted to cover as a single artist subject at the V&A. But there was very little material, just a couple of collections in the UK, and that was because Bowie had it all, and he had been amassing it over many years. And then in the last ten years or so he was actually buying back material whereas ever came onto the market, which was rarely. So that is so unusual.  I don’t know of another artist it’s not just a pop artist but he has an archive of 75,000 objects going back to childhood. That is exceptional, “Broackes said. Matthew Yokobosky designed the space at the museum for the massive showing. But when it’s over, he’s not sure if there’s going to be a more permanent place for the material. “The final venue for this exhibition, which is why it had to be just even a little bit more over the top. And you know, what will happen with David’s material after is still being discussed.” The material includes costumes from many of the Bowie’s iconic looks, including Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Halloween Jack, Major Tom, and the Thin White Duke. Broackes said that these personas were important to Bowie, because they allowed him to go beyond the music.

“We’re standing in the video section of the exhibition where we look at how Bowie really from his earliest days was interested in how the music looked, as well as how it sounded. And we have the famous ‘Ashes to Ashes’ costume by Natasha Korniloff, which she worked – she was a particular dance designer, and worked with Bowie going right back into the early days in the late 60s and 70s. And he worked with her again in 1980 for that video, which you know, we have to think it predates MTV. But Bowie was ahead of the pack in videos, as well as most other things,” Broackes said. The exhibition includes approximately 500 objects, including 60 performance costumes, photographs, posters, handwritten lyrics, and videos. Yokobosky highlighted some of the must-see areas, which include many of Bowie’s influences. “Yeah, you definitely want to hit the music video room, where the entire room is designed like a lightning bolt. You want to hit the black and white years, which the walls are painted to look like the set from this late 70s concert. You definitely want to look for the early material of influence, from German theater, Japanese theater – I mean, he studied a lot.”

“David Bowie is” runs through July 15.