In a move that feels as quintessentially East London as an oat flat white from a warehouse café, the David Bowie Centre is officially landing at V&A East Storehouse this September. Right on the creative fringe of Shoreditch’s cultural sprawl, the centre promises a deep dive into the mind of the ultimate shape-shifter of sound, style, and surreal charisma. If you’ve ever wandered Shoreditch streets wondering “what would Bowie do?”—well, now you can find out.
And yes, you’ll want to explore more Shoreditch events like this here. Because this one’s not just a museum. It’s a Bowie multiverse.
Barbican? Brilliant. But Bowie at V&A East? Iconic.
Launching on 13 September 2025, the David Bowie Centre will open its Ziggy-glam doors inside the futuristic walls of V&A East Storehouse. For the uninitiated, this isn’t just a shrine of memorabilia. It’s a free, ticketed, interactive experience, where Bowie’s creative genius literally surrounds you. Floating platforms. One-on-one archive access. Synth manuals. Unreleased projects. It’s basically a love letter to creativity—with eyeliner.
In true Shoreditch-meets-stratosphere fashion, the centre gives you front-row access to over 90,000 items from Bowie’s archive. And because this is East London we’re talking about, there’s more than just nostalgia—there’s innovation. Think private viewing appointments, immersive installations, and displays curated by today’s musical misfits.
Guest Curation: Nile Rodgers & The Last Dinner Party Dial It Up
Yes, you read that right. The guest curators include none other than legendary hitmaker Nile Rodgers and indie rock darlings The Last Dinner Party. Rodgers, who helped make Let’s Dance the monumental success it is, is sharing unseen gems: personal letters, Peter Hall suits, rare photos, and stories from the Bowie years that shaped an era.
Meanwhile, The Last Dinner Party—clearly graduates of the Bowie School of Theatrical Cool—are showcasing 1970s ephemera like handwritten lyrics, station-to-station tour notes, and synth manuals from Bowie’s Berlin trilogy. These aren’t dusty relics; they’re artifacts of evolution, curated by artists who are currently rewriting the rules of modern sound.
An Archive That Talks Back
Unlike your average glass-case snoozefest, the David Bowie Centre is built to engage. Floating platforms let you hover—almost voyeuristically—over the Curtain Theatre’s ruins, while inside, you’ll engage in multisensory experiences that tap into Bowie’s world-building wizardry.
Feeling bold? Book personal time with Bowie’s archive. Yes, really. Visitors can select items from the collection and spend intimate minutes with the objects that helped define not just a man, but a movement. Station to Station suddenly feels very literal.
The Future is Fluid: Bowie’s Legacy for Modern Creatives
From the very beginning, David Bowie challenged labels. Musician, actor, art-school icon, sci-fi visionary—he was all of it, and none of it. According to curator Madeleine Haddon, the centre reflects Bowie’s refusal to be pinned down. He lived the fluid creative life we now see echoed across Shoreditch’s creative studios, East London fashion scenes, and digital startups trying to disrupt everything.
The centre’s nine rotating displays explore his collaborations with Gail Ann Dorsey, unrealised films based on 1984, and that infamous Glass Spider Tour. You’ll also find insights into persona creation—from Ziggy Stardust to Aladdin Sane—and how Bowie bent genre, gender, and time into a shimmering mix of future and past.
A Cultural Landmark in the Making
This isn’t just about David Bowie. It’s about what he stood for—creative courage, genre-bending brilliance, and being utterly unafraid to be weird. Right in the heart of East London, the David Bowie Centre promises to become a cornerstone of London’s innovation ecosystem, fitting in seamlessly with other local legends like the Barbican’s Frequencies or the raw sonic experiments at Shoreditch’s fringe venues.
→ Discover more local gems with Things to Do in Shoreditch – Your Essential Guide.
Bowie for the Next Generation
From handwritten lyrics to synthesiser user manuals, the Bowie archive isn’t a static museum—it’s a call to create. As The Last Dinner Party put it, Bowie inspired them to “stand up for ourselves and our music.” Now it’s your turn.
Get inspired, get weird, and most importantly—get your ticket when they drop later this year.
For more info and to sign up for updates:
🌐 vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/david-bowie-centre