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May is a landmark month for the capital’s key cultural institutions. Alongside the opening of Soho Theatre Walthamstow and Tate Modern’s huge 25th birthday celebrations, the month sees the opening of another major new venue, the V&A East Storehouse, in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
The purpose-built space housing over half a million artefacts from the V&A archives is due to open at the end of the month. It just announced further details of its inaugural displays and some of its first events, alongside sharing the first pictures from inside the building.
V&A East promises to be ‘a new kind of museum experience’ offering visitors an insight into the workings of a major museum, letting them explore how objects are curated, acquired and cared for. Alongside storage space for over 1,000 individual archives, 250,000 objects and 350,000 library books, the space’s central Weston Collections Hall features over 100 mini displays that have been hacked into the ends of its storage units.
Further details of the artefacts that will feature in these displays have just been revealed. Highlights include works by Hew Locke and Zaha Hadid, a model of the London 2012 Olympic cauldron designed by Thomas Heatherwick and several new aquisitions, from the likes of Cameroonian designer Imane Ayissi, Lebanese-French artist Najla El Zein, and London-based Zimbabwean ceramicist Xanthe Somers. One particular highlight is the 11-metre-wide stage cloth Pablo Picasso designed for the Ballets Russes’ 1924 production, Le Train Bleu, which is displayed for first time in over a decade. The museum also shared exclusive images of some of the displays.
The museum has also revealed the details of its Order an Object experience. The service allows visitors to access any object in the Storehouse collection free of charge, seven days a week, allowing unparalleled access to a host of treasures including Japenese tea ceremony sets, Leigh Bowery outfits, ancient Egyptian shoes and mid-century design classics. Bookings go live for this on Tuesday May 13 via the V&A website.
Also just announced are details of some of the first live events taking place at the site. These include back2back: Archival Bodies (Saturday, June 7), a free one-day event where the Storehouse will play host to site-responsive installations, immersive experiences, ambient DJ sets and live performances inviting visitors to engage with the V&A collections in unexpected ways, and a new programming strand, A Life in the Work of Others, where a guest speakers will be invited to share some of the creators and pieces that have shaped their own practice. The inaugural edition of this takes place on Thursday, June 26 with Turner Prize-winning artist Jasleen Kaur.
The V&A has also revealed details about its staff uniforms. Designed by Hackney Wick-based fashion designer Robyn Lynch, in collaboration with V&A East’s Youth Collective, the uniforms feature burnt-orange, box-fit vests inspired by 1990s fishing gear.
The V&A East Storehouse throws its doors open on Saturday, May 31, and will be open seven days a week, from 10am to 6pm most days, with late openings until 10pm on Thursdays and Saturdays. We can’t wait to have a good old poke around.
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