Christmas Tree 2005

6 December 2005 - 6 January 2006
'I felt my fans should be rich shades of reds, from hot orange through to deepest magenta and burgundy.' View Kaffe Fassett's Christmas Tree designed for the V&A, 2005.

SAVE Britain's Heritage 1975-2005: 30 Years of Campaigning

 

3 November 2005 - 12 February 2006
Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the founding of SAVE, a campaigning body working to save Britain’s architectural heritage. The birth of SAVE was sparked by the immense publicity generated by the now legendary exhibition 'The Destruction of the Country House' held at the V&A in 1974.

Tom Gidley

19 October - 2 November 2005
Gidley's film, Trajan Reel, was shot inside the original Trajan's Column in Rome. It was commissioned be shown here, next to the V&A's cast of the same monument.

Diane Arbus Revelations

13 October 2005 - 15 January 2006
Diane Arbus is one of the 20th century's most important artists. Her photographs, as universal as they are startling, redefined the concerns and the range of the art she practiced. 'Diane Arbus Revelations' was the first international museum retrospective of her work in more than thirty years. The exhibition consisted of nearly two hundred of the artist's most significant photographs-making it the most complete presentation of her work ever assembled. Prints were drawn from major public and private collections throughout the world and included many images that had never been exhibited publicly.

Japanese Bronzes

13 October 2005 - 2 May 2006
In 1868, following the downfall of Japan's military government, the Emperor Meiji was restored to power. Japanese artisans, particularly metalworkers, lost their traditional samurai patrons and were obliged to find new markets for their skills.

Fashioning Kimono

13 October 2005 - 2 May 2006
These boldly patterned and brilliantly coloured kimono reveal the dynamism of Japanese textile design in the early 12th century. This was a period of economic prosperity and cultural expansion. Although western-style clothes were gaining popularity among women, the kimono continued to be worn.

Deutschlandscape

20 September 2005 - 29 January 2006
Deutschlandscape is a dramatic 90m long photographic panorama showing 38 recently built projects throughout Germany. The display explored the deliberate shift in focus by architects from metropolitan urban centres to the areas on the urban fringe. At the core of all these projects is the intent to regenerate spaces within the urban margins and provincial towns.

Import Export: Global Influences in Contemporary Design

20 September - 4 December 2005
This autumn the V&A and British Council presented Import Export: Global Influences in Contemporary Design, an exhibition which explored the way British design has influenced, and has been influenced by, other world cultures. Import Export featured the work of fourteen British and non-British designers who live and work in the UK.

Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China

15 September 2005 - 15 January 2006
This exhibition offered the first comprehensive overview of innovative photo and video art produced in China since the mid 1990s.  Bringing together works by younger artists from mainland China, many of whom were exhibiting for the first time in the UK, the exhibition comprised a host of highly individual responses to the successive waves of change that have swept through China’s economic, social, and cultural life. In addition to introducing a remarkable body of work to UK audiences, the exhibition provided insight into the dynamics of Chinese culture at the start of the 21st century.

HearWear – The Future of Hearing

 

26 July 2005 - 5 March 2006
The results of an innovative project to radically re-think the future of hearing, Hearwear displayed designs and prototypes by some of the UK's best designers, including Ross Lovegrove, Priestman Goode, Industrial Facility and IDEO. The display showed how fashionably designed 'hearwear' can be as desirable and accessible as 'eyewear', and will change the way people think about hearing.

Garry Fabian Miller

30 June - 11 September 2005
Garry Fabian Miller is one of the most progressive figures in fine art photography. Born in 1957, he has made exclusively 'camera-less' photographs since the mid 1980s. He works in the darkroom, shining light through coloured glass vessels and over cut-paper shapes to create forms that record directly onto photographic paper. These rudimentary methods recall the earliest days of photography, when the effects of light on sensitised paper seemed magical.

RIBA Stirling Prize

 

22 June - 16 October 2005
The RIBA Stirling Prize has captured the public imagination. It shows what good contemporary architecture can offer and highlights the very best of British architectural talent. Drawings, plans, photographs and models on show offered a detailed view of how each of the nine prize-winning buildings were conceived, planned and constructed.

AJ Corus 40 Under 40

21 June - 29 August 2005
AJ Corus 40 Under 40 is an award scheme for young architects under the age of 40 working in the UK, and was launched by the Architects Journal & Corus. The display , in gallery 50, showcased the creative thinking and talent of the 40 winning architects, who were invited to submit examples of their work for assessment by a distinguished panel of leading UK architects and prominent figures from the world of design and development.  The work displayed included completed and proposed projects and design ideas.

Touch Me

 

16 June - 29 August 2005
This uniquely touchable exhibition explored the pleasures, sensations and future of touch, bringing us closer to each other and the designed world around us – from site specific art and design commission to games, live science experiments and a fantastical petting zoo. Touch Me was a collaboration between the V&A and the Wellcome Trust.

International Arts and Crafts

 

17 March - 24 July 2005
This exhibition set out the story of the Arts and Crafts Movement which laid the foundation for approaches to design in the 20th century. It was the first exhibition to trace the Movement’s global progress from its origins in Britain to subsequent widespread international adoption, interpretation and development.

Read more about Arts and Crafts

Spectres: When Fashion Turns Back

24 February - 8 May 2005
Through the clothes of leading cutting-edge designers, Spectres explored the influence of the past on the present and illustrated how the power of the historical muse shapes fashion design today.

Joinedupdesignforschools

21 February - 31 March 2005
What if you put pupils in charge of improving their schools?

This exhibition told the story of how the Sorrell Foundation joined up pupils from all over Britain with some of the best designers in the world to create ideas and designs that would dramatically improve their school.

Style and Splendour

 

2 February 2005 - 8 January 2006
This display showed the spectacular wardrobe of Queen Maud, the British Princess who became Queen Consort of the newly independent Norway in 1905. Daughter of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, Maud was renowned for her fashionable style. Her clothes document an extraordinary era of fashion history, from the decorative but elaborate dress of the Victorian era to the streamlined chic of the 1930s. Her wardrobe comprised royal robes, sporting wear and accessories.  This display included some 50 outfits ranging from her wedding trousseau of 1896 to the latest Worth designs purchased just months before her death in 1938.