V&A’s David Bowie archive touring UK

The V&A’s David Bowie archive is to go on a tour of the UK, featuring 100 items related to the star.

David Bowie: On Tour will see a number of items which have never been on public display go on show at locations across the country, beginning at the V&A Dundee, where the exhibition will run from November to February 2027.

Exhibits will include costumes from the singer’s Ziggy Stardust period, designed by Freddie Burretti and Kansai Yamamoto, sketches for the accompanying tour and an acoustic guitar used during that period.

Sir Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, said: “David Bowie: On Tour is a landmark national partnership for the V&A, bringing highlights from David Bowie’s extraordinary archive to audiences across the UK for the first time.

“Working with our colleagues in museums and venues nationwide, we’re opening up Bowie’s story in the places connected to his life and legacy, ensuring people across the country can experience these remarkable objects where they live, and be inspired by his enduring creativity.”

The exhibition will be split into four sections, with other items on display include Bowie’s keys from his apartment in Berlin, when he was recording the albums Low and Heroes, both released in 1977, and concept art for the cover of Low.

It will also feature the Natasha Korniloff-designed costume Bowie wore in the video for 1980 single Ashes To Ashes, a clapperboard used for The Man Who Fell To Earth (1975), and his first instrument, a Grafton Alto saxophone bought for him by his father in 1961.

Following its debut in Scotland, the exhibition will move on to Showtown in Blackpool (June to September 2027), the Bowes Museum in County Durham (October 2027 to January 2028), the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull (February to May 2028), and Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (June to September 2028).

Further venues are expected to be announced in due course.

It comes after the David Bowie Centre opened at the V&A Storehouse in September last year as a home for the archive featuring a permanent display of artefacts.

Widely considered as one of the greatest artists of all time, Bowie achieved five UK number one singles and 11 UK number one albums during his lifetime, and is best known for songs such as Space Oddity, Ashes To Ashes and Sound And Vision.

Bowie was known for his drastic changes in sound and appearance during his career, beginning as a pop singer in the 1960s, before rising to major fame in the 1970s with the glam rock albums The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (1972) and Aladdin Sane (1973).

He embraced soul on the albums Young Americans (1975) and Station To Station (1976), which saw him among the first white artists to appear on US TV show Soul Train, before plunging into krautrock influences on Low (1977), Heroes (1977) and Lodger (1979).

Bowie also ventured into genres such as dance and jazz during his career, and collaborated with artists including Queen, Mick Jagger and Trent Reznor. Bowie released his final album, Blackstar, on his 69th birthday, just two days before his death in 2016.

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