V&A East Museum opens its doors for the first time on Saturday, April 18, as part of East Bank, the new cultural quarter in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, supported by the Mayor of London.
We can never have too much art and culture, so it was a pleasure to get a preview of the strikingly modern five-storey building, a museum co–created with young people, creatives, and those living, working, and studying in East London. We visited their first major exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story, as well as the free permanent Why We Make galleries, spotlighting global culture with a topical lens and featuring over 500 objects from the V&A’s collection.
It was invigorating to hear from V&A East director Gus Casely-Hayford at the preview event on 15 April about the extent to which the team centred the voices of community members through extensive engagement, resulting in programming that would enhance access to art and culture in East London. He spoke of the intention to provide spaces that platform the hopes and dreams of young people. We are, he said, a nation that needs positive stories.
I couldn’t agree more. He hoped that across the gallery we would find the sort of work that speaks to the vision of Thomas J Price’s awesome sculpture, “A Place Beyond” which stands proudly alongside the gallery, of lifting our eyes up to the horizon.
Brendan Comier, Chief Curator built on this with a rousing insight into the curatorial vision for the museum. Reflecting on the Why We Make Galleries specifically, he spoke about the intention to revive the spirit of applied art, in the spirit of Henry Cole, Co-Curator of The Great Exhibition held in 1851 in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, which challenged us to understand that art and creativity are all around us in everyday objects.
He echoed Gus’ sentiments about making the museum a space where young people could create, without the barrier of cost and highlighted the potential of creative practice to create a great positive impact on society. I was struck by his comment about creativity as an endangered species in a time when AI tools promise to do everything for us. The need for intentional physical space to create remains critical to our well-being.
There is a youthful vibrancy to the architecture and the curation of the space in V&A East, which highlights striking exhibits, including new acquisitions by designer Yinka Ilori, fashion designer Molly Goddard, and ceramicist Bisila Noha. I am generally not a fan of walking around galleries with an audio pack around my neck and headphones on, but nursing my Stetson hat in my arms, I plugged into the audiovisual mixtape from Shortee Blitz and Beat A Maxx in The Music is Black exhibition because, as I was told, it was essential, and they weren’t wrong. I two-stepped my way around the vast and dimly lit gallery featuring over 200 objects from the V&A’s collection, revisiting my youth as I went.
This is the largest ever exhibition on the impact of Black British music on the Uk and around the world. Illustrating the UK as both trailblazers with genres such as Lovers Rock, Garage, Brit Funk, as well as the ways in which it is influenced and nurtured by music traditions from America and beyond. Multiple visits will be required to fully take it all in and that is no bad thing. There is a great deal on offer across the museum for lovers of music, culture and art and simply for those curious to learn more about our global history, material and visual culture. That should be every one of us.
East Bank is the Uk’s newest cultural quarter at the heart of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. V&A East is at the heart of it. It opens its doors to the public on April 18. Go along. Take a friend. Find out more
Need to know: East Bank announces first details of The Music is Black Festival at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
