In London’s Stratford district, the David Bowie Centre has opened inside a vast warehouse with some 90,000 artifacts tracing every phase of the late music icon’s shape-shifting career—from Ziggy Stardust costumes and handwritten lyrics to intimate sketchbooks and demo tapes.
The idea began soon after Bowie’s death in 2016, when the Victoria and Albert Museum inherited his complete archives. The collection was so extensive it demanded a permanent space, and years of careful planning have turned it into a Bowie treasure trove that invites fans to step inside his creative universe.
How The David Bowie Center Brings His Legacy To Life
The David Bowie Centre is located in a state-of-the-art venue at East London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Visitors are immersed in Bowie’s world through multimedia installations and rotating exhibits, and it boasts interactive displays, rare film footage, and curated soundscapes that bring Bowie’s groundbreaking artistry to life so it can continue to inspire a new generation of fans.
Organizing and curating 90,000 items brings its challenges. The David Bowie Centre defines itself as a working archive, complete with reading and study rooms. Among all these items, you’ll find 414 costumes and accessories, nearly 150 musical instruments and sound equipment used to record his best albums, as well as props and designs from his concerts, films, and theater performances.
Bowie’s own desk is housed inside the archive, and you’ll find it featured alongside his notebooks, diaries, lyrics, personal and professional correspondence, fan mail, as well as more than 70,000 photographic prints, negatives, and transparencies.
Inside The 90,000-Piece David Bowie Archive
Tickets can be purchased at the site of exhibition organizers, V&A East Storehouse, where you’ll also find the highlights you can expect to find at The David Bowie Centre. The inaugural display is curated by disco legendNile Rodgers, and includes correspondence between Bowie and Rodgers while they were recording the Black Tie White Noise album in the early ’90s.
NPR reports that you’ll find Ziggy Stardust memorabilia galore at the new museum, including an embroidered silk jacket that Bowie wore on a tour in the early ’70s when he inhabited his infamous alter ego (along with matching pants and booties). Also showcased is a Harptone 12-string acoustic guitar that was featured in the video for arguably Bowie’s biggest classic, “Space Oddity”.
Other standouts include another otherworldly jumpsuit that Bowie wore as Ziggy Stardust; an early sketch of artwork that was featured on Space Oddity; a frock coat designed by Alexander McQueen for Bowie’s 50th birthday concert in 1997; and a clapperboard used during the filming of arguably Bowie’s most iconic performance, The Man Who Fell To Earth.
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