Costumes, musical instruments, photographs and handwritten lyrics will be brought together for an exhibition charting a career which spanned more than half a century.
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More than 100 objects kept by the trailblazing pop and rock star will be going on public display – some for the first time ever – in the new exhibition, David Bowie: On Tour.
V&A Dundee has secured the launch run of the new exhibition between November and February before it heads to museums across the UK in 2027 and 2028.
A song chart used by David Bowie for rehearsals and his Earthling tour in 1997 will be part of the forthcoming exhibition at V&A Dundee. (Image: David Parry/PA Media Assignments)
The exhibition, which will be drawn from the V&A’s vast Bowie archive, will run in Dundee – where Bowie performed in 1966 and 1973, at the Palais and the Caird Hall respectively. He went on to play a number of venues in Glasgow throughout his career, including the Barrowland Ballroom, the SECC and the Apolllo, as well as Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh.
The show opening at V&A Dundee will span Bowie’s entire career, exploring everything from groundbreaking albums, stadium shows and music videos to his film appearances.
A costume created by Russian designer Natasha Korniloff for David Bowie’s 1980 Ashes to Ashes music video is prepared at V&A East Storehouse in London ahead of going on display at V&A Dundee later this year. (Image: David Parry/PA Media Assignments)
The exhibition will feature sections devoted to the Ziggy Stardust persona London-born Bowie created in the early 1970s, the acclaimed albums he made while living in Berlin, Bowie’s plans for his Serious Moonlight tour in the 1980s and the creation of his final album, Blackstar, which was released just over 10 years ago, just days before he died at the age of 69.
Personal possessions going on display include Bowie’s first ever musical instrument, a saxophone his father bought him in 1961, a Ziggy Stardust-era acoustic guitar, an advance copy of The Velvet Underground 1967 single I’m Waiting For The Man and his copy of the script for his 1986 feature film Labyrinth.
A costume created by designer Freddie Burretti for David Bowie’s 1973 tour is prepared at V&A East Storehouse in London ahead of going on display at V&A Dundee later this year. (Image: David Parry/PA Media Assignments)
Other highlights are expected to include a costume created by Japanese designer Kansai Yamamoto for the Ziggy Stardust tour in 1972 and 1973, a song chart Bowie used during rehearsals for his 1997 Earthling tour, a stopwatch he used when he was writing songs, notebooks mapping out albums and tours, handwritten “to do lists”, and a harmonica microphone used during his final run of live shows in 2003 and 2004.
The new touring exhibition has been announced less than a year after the public access to the Bowie archive was opened up at the new V&A East Storehouse venue in London.
A polaroid photograph of David Bowie’s costume fittings for the character of Jareth in his 1986 film Labyrinth will be part of V&A Dundee’s forthcoming exhibition devoted to the singer. (Image: David Parry/PA Media Assignments)
Now the permanent home of its Bowie collection, the complex will host rotating displays drawn from the archive, which includes more than 90,000 objects in total.
V&A Dundee has secured the David Bowie exhibition after Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow previously attracted huge audiences to separate shows celebrating Kylie Minogue and AC/DC.
The Bowie exhibition will be opening in Dundee eight years after the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh created Rip It Up, the first major exhibition devoted to the story of Scottish pop and rock music, which featured Gerry Rafferty, Lulu, The Rezillos, Midge Ure, Simple Minds, Garbage, The Proclaimers, The Skids, Big Country, Garbage, Franz Ferdinand and Young Fathers.
V&A Dundee director Leonie Bell: “David Bowie has always been one of the most-requested cultural figures our audiences have wanted to see celebrated at V&A Dundee.
“He left an indelible impression on the city after bringing the Ziggy Stardust tour to the city’s iconic music venue, Caird Hall, in 1973, following his first Dundee performance in 1966.
“This is a thrilling opportunity for fans to get up close with never-before-seen objects from Bowie’s personal archive and to celebrate his remarkable story and extraordinary creative imagination.”
The V&A launched its first David Bowie exhibition at its historic South Kensington home in London in 2013. It went on to attract more than two million visitors during a five-year run which saw the show staged in 12 museums around the world before it closed in New York.
The new David Bowie Centre opened at V&A East Storehouse last September, while a new “immersive exhibition” devoted to the singer was unveiled in April at Lightroom in London.
Sir Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, said: “David Bowie: On Tour is a landmark national partnership for the V&A, bringing highlights from David Bowie’s extraordinary archive to audiences across the UK for the first time.
“Working with our colleagues in museums and venues nationwide, we’re opening up Bowie’s story in the places connected to his life and legacy, ensuring people across the country can experience these remarkable objects where they live, and be inspired by his enduring creativity.”
Harriet Reed, curator of contemporary performance at the V&A, said: “David Bowie’s archive reveals an artist in constant motion – a restless, forward-looking mind at work beyond the music and images we know.
“From fan art and his first instrument to unrealised projects, handwritten notes and unseen sketches, David Bowie: On Tour brings visitors up close to the ideas behind his work – including items from The Next Day and Blackstar never shown before – offering new insight into how his creativity took shape.
“It’s a rare chance to step inside Bowie’s imagination, and experience the curiosity and daring that defined his life’s work.”