David Bowie is
The spectacular exhibition David Bowie is arrives to the Disseny Hub Barcelona.
Bowie was everything but a conventional person, and the exhibition David Bowie Is neither is. The spectacular showing, created by the Victorian and Albert Museum de Londres (V&A) and one of the most succesfull ones in its history, arrives to the Disseny Hub Barcelona.
More than 300 objects, from written lyrics to the original costumes he used in videos and covers and daily objects such as the keys of his Berlin apartment. His personal objects help you to understand who was Bowie, but in his models is the key to the explanation of this pop culture icon.
Bowie represented past, present and future. He seek for inspiration in the literature, art and theatre of the 2oth century; reflected all this into his melodies and lyrics, and with his music he inspired and will continue to inspire generation among generation. His ability to filter ideas is what makes him into one of the greatest creativity catalysts of our time.
Being him such a huge artist was a challenge for the organizers of the exhibition. “It’s a challenge to present, at the same time, something interesting to the people that don’t know him well and the ones that know everything about him”, explains V&A curator Victoria Broackes. This showing is not a biography of his life, but it focuses on his visionary side, in his constant questioning of the status quo. “We wanted to answer the question why he inspired so many generations”, concludes Broackes.
David Bowie was a leader of contemporary culture, but also other things, and the messages of his lyrics, music, statements and fashion hold many meanings. That’s why it’s so difficult to sum up all of this in a name and thus this David Bowie is title. Each of you can finish the sentence as you please.
The visitor will have an automatic audio guide that will change as he moves through the space: in front of the raincoat with a Union Jack designed by Alexander McQueen that he wear in the “Earthling” tour you will hear “I’m Afraid for Americans”; and infront of the Verbasizer, a computer program designed to mix random phrases, you’ll hear Bowie explaining how it works.
The retrospective tries to “recreate the sensation of living in a Bowie concert”, says another curator of the museum, Geoffrey Marsh. But also wake and encourage the creativity of the visitors showing the creative process of the artist.