{"id":377857,"date":"2026-04-06T12:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/377857\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T12:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:43:09","slug":"inside-an-immersive-new-david-bowie-exhibition-at-lightroom-he-stands-for-something-we-really-need-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/377857\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside an immersive new David Bowie exhibition at Lightroom: \u2018He stands for something we really need right now\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A new David Bowie<\/a> exhibition at Lightroom in London offers insight into the late artist\u2019s \u201ctrue personality\u201d, its creators have promised. <\/p>\n

Written and directed by Mark Grimmer, David Bowie: You\u2019re Not Alone <\/a>opens at the immersive space on 22 April.<\/p>\n

Grimmer\u2019s relationship with Bowie\u2019s work goes back to at least 2013, when he served as lead designer on the V&A Museum\u2019s Bowie Is exhibition. \u201cSince that point, I think I\u2019d always thought there was more work to be done with Bowie as a character, as a performer,\u201d he told The Independent.<\/p>\n

Following the opening of Lightroom in 2023 with its groundbreaking David Hockney<\/a> exhibition Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away)<\/a>, the venue\u2019s team reached out to Bowie\u2019s estate, members of which came to see the artist\u2019s exhibition. \u201cIt was one of those lovely coming-together moments where we figured out a way to do it, with this direct line of conversation with the estate,\u201d Grimmer said.<\/p>\n

He collaborated on the Bowie exhibition with Lightroom\u2019s executive producer David Sabel, along with key figures including the \u201cRebel Rebel\u201d icon\u2019s longtime publicist Alan Edwards,<\/a> and Jonathan Barnbrook, who designed the album artwork for Bowie albums including Reality and The Next Day, as well as his final album, 2016\u2019s Blackstar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt a great privilege to be working on this, and indeed, a great responsibility,\u201d Sabel said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we didn\u2019t want to bring other voices into it \u2013 we wanted to be led by David\u2019s own voice throughout, and the estate was very clear on that. \u2018Let\u2019s let David speak for himself\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie, who died in 2016, was often described as an enigmatic figure to the public, and his shape-shifting artistic identity was reflected in a number of eccentric, colourful characters, from Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke.<\/p>\n

\"BowieBowie performing at Glastonbury in 2000 (PA)<\/p>\n

Sabel pointed to the \u201cintimacy\u201d Lightroom offers in its ability to tell stories through mixed media, from archive footage of Bowie\u2019s interviews and performances to handwritten lyrics and his iconic fashion through the years, something he pointed out was reflected in Bowie\u2019s own \u201chunger for connection with the audience\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never got to see him live, and through this show I have a sense of it,\u201d he said. \u201cOf course, it\u2019s never the same, but I do feel like I\u2019ve got to see this incredible range of performances and time-travel a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grimmer said working on the exhibition had reminded him how Bowie \u201ccontinually surprises\u201d, and of the late artist\u2019s \u201cself-deprecating\u201d side. \u201cOne of the things that\u2019s been fun about the research for this project is [having] access to a lot of material involving more offhand chats between interviewers and Bowie, and that\u2019s really given us a bit of a kind of insight into his true personality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the show does possibly take the enigma out of it, because he makes you laugh,\u201d Sabel agreed. \u201cHe sounds like us in that he\u2019s someone who\u2019s grappling with the hard questions of life: what it means about how to connect to other people and how to make an impact with the thing that you love doing. So in that sense, he becomes very, very human.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u2018He\u2018He represents something we can take a great deal of inspiration from\u2019 (Lightroom)<\/p>\n

Asked whether \u2013 given the number of exhibitions, documentaries and tribute concerts that have taken place since Bowie\u2019s death \u2013 we might be reaching \u201cBowie saturation point\u201d, Grimmer argued that what the singer represented was more important than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe represents something we can take a great deal of inspiration from, which is a creative curiosity,\u201d he said. \u201cHe went out and read everything, he took himself to the theater, he went to see films, he was into the Beat poets\u2026 if the show does anything, [I hope] it encourages young people to pick up a book, or go to a gallery, to connect with something. That\u2019s the best we can hope for, in some ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cI think Bowie stands for something we really need right now, which is curiosity, openness, a passion for creativity\u2026 I think there\u2019s something in that enthusiasm and hunger [he had] for life and for the power that art has to connect people. So I think we\u2019ll keep reaching for Bowie for as long as we need him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018David Bowie: You\u2019re Not Alone\u2019 opens at Lightroom, London, on 22 April 2026; tickets from \u00a327<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[437,434,435,436,438,146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-377857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}