David Bowie Centre Archive of 90,000+ Artifacts Opens in London

Photo Credit: David Bowie performing in Santa Monica in 1972 by Boris Yaro / CC by 4.0

With a cornucopia of over 90,000 artifacts spanning David Bowie’s illustrious career, the David Bowie Centre opens in London this weekend.

The David Bowie Centre in London promises to provide a veritable goldmine of treasure for devoted fans and newcomers alike. Opening at the new Victoria and Albert Museum’s East Storehouse on September 13, the 90,000-piece archive, acquired from the Bowie estate, will be free to view per timed ticket entry.

In the 1990s, David Bowie began assembling an archive of his own career, on the heels of his Sound+Vision tour. There, he announced he was performing his hits live for the last time—but that claim lasted only two years. Still, the sheer archive he compiled was and remains on another level, akin to a moonage daydream.

“What is mind-blowing is the sheer volume of material Bowie saved,” said Madeleine Haddon, lead curator for the David Bowie Centre and a curator at V&A East, which comprises V&A East Storehouse and the V&A East Museum, due to open next year. “From scribbled notes to elaborate concept sketches, it’s a powerful reminder that no idea was too small. He treated the creative process as something worth documenting at every stage—an approach that offers a rich legacy for artists of all disciplines.”

The Victoria and Albert Museum secured Bowie’s complete archives from his estate two years ago. The staggering array of artifacts includes original costumes, musical instruments, stage models, handwritten notes and lyrics, sketches, artwork, and much more.

At the entrance of the David Bowie Centre sit mini-displays to spotlight key themes in Bowie’s career across approximately 200 objects. In a study room to the side, visitors can make appointments to request up to five items from the archive to engage with on a one-on-one basis.

“Bowie would have wanted other people to use this archive to explore their creativity,” added Haddon. “We want visitors to be inspired by Bowie, to pursue their own creativity, discover their stories, and make unexpected connections between Bowie, contemporary discussions, and themselves.”

While the groundwork for the relationship between the V&A Museum and Bowie was laid in 2013 with the “David Bowie Is” exhibition, curators are quick to highlight the differences between it and the new David Bowie Centre. “David Bowie Is” remains the most visited exhibit in the museum’s history, with its items on permanent display across nine themed cabinets.

But the David Bowie Centre is taking a new approach, with the entire 90,000-item archive being accessible to the public—something Haddon describes as “absolutely revolutionary.” It’s a notably more straightforward process than either the Bob Dylan Centre in Tulsa or the New York Public Library’s Lou Reed collection, both of which are geared toward academic research.

“Many may expect a traditional exhibition similar to ‘David Bowie Is,’ but the centre is something quite different and exciting,” says Haddon, who calls it “a working archive and a space for public engagement, research, and discovery.”

The entire archive can be accessed through the V&A Storehouse’s Order an Object service and its Search the Archive facility. Further, the David Bowie Archive Cataloguing Project, which will make every item available online, will be completed by the end of 2026.

The Bowie archive was acquired in February 2023, thanks to a £10 million ($13.5 million) donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation, created by Ukraine-born Leonard Blavatnik and Warner Music Group.