V&A's David Bowie Archive Embarks on First UK National Tour

The V&A is sending over 100 pieces from its 90,000-item David Bowie archive on a national tour across the UK, starting at V&A Dundee in November 2026. The exhibition, titled David Bowie: On Tour, includes never-before-displayed artefacts such as Kansai Yamamoto's Ziggy Stardust costumes, Bowie's childhood Grafton Alto saxophone from around 1961, his Berlin apartment keys, a rejected Simpsons script, and a 1988 passport. Curated by Harriet Reed, the show is divided into four sections: Bowie Through a Lens (photography by Mick Rock, Terry O'Neill, Masayoshi Sukita, Brian Ward), All the Somebody People (studio and stage materials including handwritten notes for albums like Ziggy Stardust, Lodger, and Blackstar), Hooked to the Silver Screen (film-related items from Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence to The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie), and I Can't Give Everything Away (Bowie's archiving instincts, fan art, and unrealised projects like The Catastrophe Cabinet). The tour stops include V&A Dundee (Nov 2026–Feb 2027), Showtown Blackpool (Jun–Sep 2027), Bowes Museum in County Durham (Oct 2027–Jan 2028), Ferens Art Gallery in Hull (Feb–May 2028), and Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (Jun–Sep 2028), with more venues to be announced. V&A director Sir Tristram Hunt called it a 'landmark national partnership'. Bowie's archive first exhibited at the V&A in 2013, toured globally until 2018, and a permanent Bowie Centre opened at V&A East Storehouse in September 2023.