{"id":390530,"date":"2026-04-09T21:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T21:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/390530\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T21:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T21:23:10","slug":"an-impressive-new-free-museum-from-the-va-group-opens-in-east-london-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/390530\/","title":{"rendered":"An impressive new free museum from the V&A group opens in East London next week"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"a<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: Peter Kelleher \u00a9 Victoria & Albert Museum, London\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u2013\u00a0
\n\t\t\t\tStaff Writer\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\u00a0\u00b7\u00a0
\n\t\t\t9 April, 2026<\/p>\n

London has no shortage of stunning museums<\/a> and galleries<\/a>. Our city is almost full to bursting with glorious institutions celebrating art and creativity. Almost, that is, because clearly there\u2019s still room for more! Next week, London\u2019s latest and highly anticipated museum opens its doors. The V&A East begins welcoming visitors from April 18<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new museum is just a short walk from the celebrated V&A East Storehouse<\/a>, which opened last year. When it opened, the V&A East Storehouse revolutionised how visitors can engage with the museum\u2019s contents. The venue boasts over half a million works available to peruse in a quasi-storehouse setting (thus the name). But the V&A East Museum will have a more traditional style of engagement with its collection, akin to other museums and V&A venues. <\/p>\n

Like other V&A sites, entrance to the V&A East is free<\/a>. However, you will have to pay to see the exhibitions. But, as always, there\u2019s plenty to see amongst the museum\u2019s permanent, free collections. <\/p>\n

The V&A East marks the V&A group\u2019s 6th museum opening. Other V&A venues include:<\/p>\n

V&A South Kensington<\/p>\n

V&A Dundee<\/p>\n

V&A Wedgwood Collection<\/p>\n

Young V&A<\/a><\/p>\n

V&A East Storehouse<\/p>\n

On display at the V&A East<\/p>\n

The artwork commands your attention at the V&A East before you even set foot through the entrance. Outside its doors, you\u2019ll find a monumental new work from artist Thomas J Price, which is his tallest work to date. The piece, A Place Beyond, is an enormous 18ft-tall sculpture of \u201ca fictionalised young person in casual dress, mobile phone in hand, looking out to a horizon full of possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"someonePhoto credit: David Parry\/PA Media Assignments<\/p>\n

The new museum is dedicated to creativity\u2019s power to bring change. And that is evident in the displays and exhibitions that the V&A East has chosen. The museum\u2019s two free galleries, Why We Make, encompass over 500 objects from the V&A\u2019s collection. These have been chosen and displayed to allow visitors to \u201cexplore the most important issues in contemporary culture\u201d.<\/p>\n

Part of the V&A\u2019s displays will be made up of the rotating New Work programme. This sees the museum showcasing work from a\u00a0range of local\u00a0and\u00a0global artists, designers and community collaborators who are shaping contemporary culture today. The pieces and artists highlighted will rotate every six months and will be displayed across both the V&A East and the Storehouse.<\/p>\n

\"a\u00a9 JA Projects<\/p>\n

As if that wasn\u2019t enough, the V&A East Museum and Storehouse will be home to eight brand new works from the likes of \u201cTurner Prize-nominated artist\u00a0Rene Mati\u0107,\u00a0Lawrence Lek,\u00a0Laura Wilson\u00a0and\u00a0Carrie Mae Weems\u201d. That\u2019s in addition to pieces from the V&A collection that will be going on display for the very first time. The Museum will also feature a new photography display,\u00a0Dispersal: Picturing Urban Change in\u00a0East\u00a0London.<\/p>\n

V&A East\u2019s first exhibition<\/p>\n

The V&A East Museum\u2019s inaugural exhibition is The Music Is Black: A British History<\/a>, which explores the extraordinary contributions Black British music has made to culture in the UK and around the world.<\/p>\n

Spanning over 125 years, the exhibition explores a range of different genres, from jazz to reggae, Drum & Bass, Trip Hop, UK Garage, Grime, and beyond. Highlighting the remarkable contributions of Black British musicians, the exhibition will reveal the hidden stories behind some of the early 20th-century pioneers. It will also explore international music-makers and today\u2019s groundbreaking artists from Sampha to Little Simz, Tems, Jorja Smith, Ezra Collective, and more.<\/p>\n

\"MusiciansCredit: Jean Bernard Sohiez, \u2018Coxsone Outernational Sound System, (L-R) Festus, Blacker Dread and Bikey Dread\u2019 \u00a9 Jean Bernard Sohiez, urbanimage.tv<\/p>\n

The V&A has collaborated with the BBC on the exhibition, and the museum was granted full access to the BBC archives. Visitors can see the likes of Joan Armatrading\u2019s childhood guitar, fashion worn by\u00a0Little Simz, and\u00a0photographs by artists like Jennie Baptiste,\u00a0Beezer,\u00a0Dennis Morris,\u00a0Eddie Otchere,\u00a0and Sam White. <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udccd Parkes Street, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, E20 3AX.
\ud83d\ude87 The nearest station is Hackney Wick.<\/p>\n

Find out more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Peter Kelleher \u00a9 Victoria & Albert Museum, London \u00a0\u2013\u00a0 Staff Writer \u00a0\u00b7\u00a0 9 April, 2026 London has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[22459,307,304,305,306,308,93,21942,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-390530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-art-gallery-museum","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-exhibition","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}