The inimitable Pierrot costume from ‘Ashes to Ashes video; a Polaroid of the costume from ‘Labyrinth’.
It sounds like the set-up to a really bad joke: how many Bowies can you fit into a museum? Happily, the answer is- very many. There were so many Bowies, and so little time to process them all, as he morphed from mod to hippy to Ziggy to Aladdin Sane, Soul Boy to Thin White Duke , Pierrot Clown to Bona Fife Pop Star, and beyond. He could never be second-guessed, even turning his untimely passing into Art. Those who called him a chameleon were wrong: Bowie stood out, never blending in. He was always one step ahead of everyone else, drawing from disparate sources.
This shape-shifting spirit is strongly represented here. There are some obvious items on display, such as the iconic Freddie Burretti outfits, circa Ziggy, and scripts and video treatments. Then there are some unexpected gems, such as an outraged neighbour’s indignant letter addressed to “Mr Bowery”(sic) pleading with the nascent rock star to turn it down. There’s his passport, film clapperboard for ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’, and even keys to his Berlin flat, where he briefly resided with one Iggy Pop.
Below:hand painted costume for ‘Blackstar’,Ziggy suit, treatment for ‘Ashes to Ashes’ video.
These personal items are absolutely fascinating. There are things here that weren’t featured in the London V & A displays , making this exhibition feel really intimate and exclusive. Archive and ephemera are always more interesting when they come from unusual sources.The programme for his Lindsay Kemp mime show, ‘Pierrot In Turquoise’? Present. Handwritten lyrics on graph paper? Here. His handwriting is as idiosyncratic, curly but elegant. There’s even a reference to his cut-up technique of writing songs, first used by the Dadaists and popularised by a hero of Bowie’s, William S Burroughs.
Even if you are just a casual Bowie fan, there’s something beautiful and jaw -dropping in every corner to peruse. It’s impossible not to have a visceral reaction to this treasure trove. We are blessed to have these priceless pieces of pop culture, just as we were blessed to be around at the same time as the polymath David Bowie. His influence on culture is as indelible as a tattoo, and he’s irreplaceable. This is a beautiful and thorough study of just some of his core influences. Despite some personal touches, we can still never unpack the enigma that was David Bowie.
All images reproduced with kind permission from V & A, Dundee.
Opening November 4th 2026-February 15th ,2027.
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