CURRENT EXHIBITIONS & DISPLAYS
Future Exhibitions & Displays
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Decode: Digital Design Sensations
Opto-Isolator, 2007, Golan Levin with Greg Balthus, Photo: John Berens, courtesy bitforms gallery nyc
8 December 2009 - 11 April 2010
In partnership with SAP
The Porter Gallery
£5 Adults
£4 Concessions
Free to V&A Members. For information on how to become a member visit our Membership pages.Digitally growing plants and a mechanical eye that mirrors the blink of a visitor's gaze will be among the digital works that will feature in Decode: Digital Design Sensations. The exhibition will show the latest developments in digital and interactive design, from small screen based graphics to large-scale installations. Curated in collaboration with leading digital arts organisation onedotzero, there will be works by established international artists and designers including Daniel Brown, Golan Levin and Daniel Rozin as well as emerging designers such as Troika and Simon Heijdens.
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Quilts
‘At the End of the Day’, a displacement flag, Natasha Kerr, 2007. Museum no. T.43-2008
20 March - 4 July 2010
Supported by the Friends of the V&A
Exhibitions, Room 39 and North Court
£10 Adults
£ 8 Seniors
£ 6 Students, 12-17 yrs, ES40 Holders
Members go free. For more information click here.This exhibition will showcase the V&A's collection of patchwork and quilted covers to bring together over 300 years of British quilting history, from the spectacular bed hangings and silk coverlets of the 18th century, to the creative reinvention of the quilt by contemporary artists.
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Grace Kelly Style: Fashion for a Hollywood Princess
Photograph by Erwin Blumenfeld, New York, 1955. Copyright The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld 2009.
17 April - 26 September 2010
Fashion, Room 40
Admission charge will applyThe spectacular wardrobe of Grace Kelly will be on display at the V&A. Tracing the evolution of her style from her days as one of Hollywoods most popular actresses in the 1950s and as Princess Grace of Monaco, the display will present over 50 of Grace Kelly's outfits together with hats, jewellery and the original Hermès Kelly bag. Dresses from her films, including High Society, will be shown as well as the gown she wore to accept her Oscar award in 1955. These will be accompanied by film clips and posters, photographs and her Oscar statuette. The display will also include the lace ensemble worn by Grace Kelly for her civil marriage ceremony to Prince Rainier in 1956 and 35 haute couture gowns from the 1960s and 70s by her favourite couturiers Dior, Balenciaga, Givenchy, and Yves St Laurent.
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The Half by Simon Annand
Daniel Craig Photo Simon Annand
25 January – 11 April 2010
Theatre and Performance, Room 104
Free admissionThis display will showcase the work of Simon Annand, photographer of leading actors in the West End for the last 20 years. It provides a rare glimpse into the dressing rooms of actors in the precious, private few moments before the show: The Half. This half an hour before curtain up is used for focus and concentration and is strictly private. All members of the public are required to leave. Whatever has gone on during the day, the actor must use this time to make a transition into the fictional character of the play. There is no escape. These photographs pay tribute to the dedication of stage actors and reveal not only technical skills but also aspects of a very personal nightly ritual.
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The Metropolitan Police Service's Investigation of Fakes and Forgeries
The Amarna Princess, created in Bolton 2003, sold for £440,000 and seized by the Metropolitan Police Service’s Art & Antiques Unit in 2006
23 January – 7 February 2010
Rooms 17a & 18a
Free admissionIn this display, The Metropolitan Police Service's Art and Antiques Unit will showcase some of the investigative methods involved in detecting and preventing the increasingly sophisticated crime of art forgery. Using historical and contemporary criminal cases, the broader financial and cultural impacts of art forgery on modern society are considered. Exhibits will include the diverse body of work assembled by the forger, Shaun Greenhalgh, who executed such fake "masterpieces" as the Egyptian Amarna princess and paintings purporting to be the work of the English artist, L.S. Lowry.
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My Generation: The Glory Years of British Rock
Jimi Hendrix Photo Harry Goodwin
30 April – 24 October 2010
Theatre and Performance, Room 104
Free admissionTop of the Pops was launched by the BBC on New Year's Day in 1964, and went on to become the longest-running TV show in British history. On that night the Rolling Stones were the opening band; the photographer was Harry Goodwin. This display will bring together 200 of Harry Goodwin's most striking and memorable photographs, from a shocked Bob Dylan (temporarily blinded by Harry's flash in punishment for grumpiness) to a dramatic shot of Jimi Hendrix playing the guitar with his teeth. These images capture the mood and style of the 60s and 70s, and the impact of its musical stars. They celebrate those who are still actively part of the contemporary music scene and those who are remembered with veneration and affection. As the show's resident photographer from 1964 to 1973, Harry Goodwin's unique collection of photographs remembers them all.
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Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill
The Walpole Cabinet, designed by Horace Walpole and William Kent, cabinet attributed to William Hallett, figures by J.F. Verskovis and medallions by Andrea Pozzo, 1743. Museum no. W.52-1925
6 March - 4 July 2010
Admission charge will apply
This will be the first major exhibition on Horace Walpole, the most important English collector of the eighteenth century, and will bring together many of his most remarkable objects. Walpole was the first to systematically assemble the visual evidence of English history, and the first to recognise the importance of the portrait miniature to the history of British art.
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A Fairyland of Flowers: Beatrix Potter and Cicely Mary Barker
Cicely Mary Barker (1895–1973) Illustration of the Pink Fairies for Flower Fairies of the Garden 1944. Reproduction of Flower Fairy illustrations, © The Estate of Cicely Mary Barker, 2009
21 December 2009 – 14 June 2010
Leighton, Room 102
Free admissionThis small display will feature illustrations by Cicely Mary Barker. In her fascination with natural history and scientific observation, Barker has often been associated with Beatrix Potter. Both were strongly influenced by what Potter described as the Pre-Raphaelites' 'niggling but absolutely genuine admiration for copying natural details'. Their principal concern was to explore the world of the imagination while remaining faithful to the true likeness of things. Sketching always from life, Barker and Potter show a keen eye for natural beauty and a botanist's concern for scientific accuracy.
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Gargoyles and Shadows: Gothic Architecture and 19th-Century Photography
Photograph, Westminster, with The Henry VII Chapel and Clock Tower of The Houses of Parliament, Stephen Ayling, U.K., about 1869
7 January – 16 May 2010
Architecture, Room 128a
Drawing on the V&A's rich holdings of 19th-century photographs, this display will examine the relationship that developed between photography and architectural practice in the 19th century and explore how photography facilitated the re-discovery of an idealised past. The display will also address the role played by photography in the recording of buildings before demolition and its use as a tool for preserving the national architectural heritage.
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Contemporary Architecture
Chashitsu Tetsu, Terunobu Fujimori, 2005
8 June - 30 August 2010
The Porter Gallery and throughout the Museum
Free admissionThe V&A is commissioning a group of international architects to build a series of structures throughout the Museum which will respond to the theme of the 'retreat'. The starting point for these experimental projects will be the idea of a small enclosed space representing an escape from the chaos of urban life to an area for peace, contemplation, shelter or creativity. One of the central aims of the exhibition is to move away from explaining architecture through drawings and models and instead allow the visitor to experience the architecture itself.
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Making Glover
Still from Glover, Jo Lawrence
30 November 2009 - March 2010
Room 220, Sackler Centre
Free adnissionDuring 2008 new media artist Jo Lawrence spent six months as artist-in-residence at the V&A. Jo used the vast collections as a research base for a new piece of animation, Glover. The resulting 15-minute film is the story of a glovemaker who travels in his dreams to the edge of the world and encounters a series of 'glovebeasts'. The film plays with changes of scale and experiments with puppetry. Objects in the V&A provided inspiration for the film and this display will explore the process of researching and making the animation.
This display is part of the Museum Residency Programme which is supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
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Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes 1900-1939
'Le Train Bleu', stage frontcloth signed by Picasso for the Diaghilev Ballets Russes, 1924. Museum no. S.316-1978
25 September 2010 - 9 January 2011
Admission charge will apply
This exhibition will showcase the glamour and magic of Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, exploring its origin and legacy 100 years after its first performance. A larger than life personality, Diaghilev's artists included such luminaries as George Balanchine, Coco Chanel, Robert Delaunay, Natalia Goncharova, Vaslav Nijinsky and Pablo Picasso.
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Design and Ornament in Renaissance Bindings
A Venetian ducali binding, for a collection of decrees of the Council of Ten, about 1550, Inventory no.: A.M. 25-1881, NAL Pressmark: Drawer 76
7 December 2009 – 3 March 2010
NAL Landing, Room 85
This small display will feature a selection of Renaissance book bindings from about 1350–1550 from the National Art Library’s collections, highlighting major decorative designs and ornaments. The display will coincide with the opening of the Museum's new Medieval & Renaissance galleries.
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Shadow Catchers
Invocation, Adam Fuss, 1992. Museum no. E.693-1993
12 October 2010 - 23 January 2011
The Porter Gallery
Admission charge will applyShadow Catchers will present the work of five international artists who, for the last twenty years or more, have been challenging the assumption that a camera is necessary to make a photograph. By casting shadows on light sensitive paper or chemically manipulating its surface these artists seemingly capture the presence of objects, figures or glowing light. The results are exciting images often with surreal or abstract effects and symbolic content. These camera-less techniques were explored at the dawn of photography and have now been rediscovered by contemporary image makers. On display will be unique and beautifully crafted works by Pierre Cordier, Susan Derges, Adam Fuss, Garry Fabian Miller and Floris Neusüss.
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Designers of the Future
Design student in the Cast Courts Photo by Rebecca Reynolds
15 June – 31 July 2010
Room 220, Sackler Centre
Free admissionThis display will showcase work by art and design students from the University of Brighton and the Royal College of Art inspired by the V&A and its collections. A related conference exploring museum and higher education collaboration will take place in July 2010.
In partnership with the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning through Design (CETLD)
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Objects of Luxury: French porcelain of the eighteenth century
Sugar basin and cover, Saint-Cloud, about 1700-20, Museum no. 487-1909
18 September 2009 - end May 2010
Room 146
Free admissionCelebrate one of the most exciting discoveries of the 18th century in this display.
Known as 'white gold', porcelain was produced for use in all aspects of fashionable public and private life; from banquets to boudoirs, from tea drinking to the toilette. The sensuous charm of the 'soft-paste' porcelain produced in France earned it universal admiration. This display will introduce the major French factories, including the Royal Porcelain Manufacture at Sèvres, and will demonstrate the wide variety of objects they could provide for their fashionable clientele.
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Richard Slee: From Utility to Futility
Richard Slee, Philosophy, 2008. Photo by Zul Mukhida.
June 2010 - March 2011
Room 146
Free admissionRichard Slee is a renowned British artist who has built up an international reputation. For this display, he will present new works specifically for the two large wall cases and three free-standing cases in the Ceramics galleries. While Slee's primary medium remains ceramics, he has ventured into other materials, processes, and subject matter. With characteristic irony, these latest works will explore such themes as the demise of male DIY, and the shift in the crafts from items of everyday utility to autonomous art objects.
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The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement in Britain, 1860-1900
Portrait of Mrs. Luke lonides, William Blake Richmond, England, early 20th century. Museum no. E.1062-2003.
April - July 2011
Admission charge will apply
This will be the first international exhibition to explore the unconventional creativity of the Aesthetic Movement in Britain (1860-1900).
The well spring of the 'new art' movements of the late 19th century, Aestheticism is now acknowledged for its revolutionary re-negotiation of the relationships between the artist and society, between the 'fine' and design arts, as well as between art and ethics and art and criticism.
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Postmodernism
'Casablanca', sideboard, Ettore Sottsass, made by Memphis, 1981. Museum no. W.14-1990
24 September 2011 - 8 January 2012
Rooms 38 and 39, and North Court
Admission charge will applyWhat does Postmodernism mean, and where did it come from? The V&A will explore these questions in a new exhibition focusing on the 1970s and 1980s.
The ideas of Postmodernism first emerged in architecture as new interest was shown in buildings from the past and the minimalism of Modernism was eschewed. These early ideas began to influence other areas of design, including furniture and graphics. The exhibition will also look at the popular side of Postmodernism, especially the music of the time such as raves, New Wave and hip-hop, and graffiti art. Design became big business in the boom years of the 1980s when speed, excess and fame were keywords and more is more was the mantra of the time.