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| David Bowie Is #BKM |
BUT THAT ALL CHANGED YESTERDAY.
Five months ago I bought a ticket for the opening day of the "David Bowie Is" New York City leg, which is the last stop on its world tour, and that date WAS YESTERDAY.
I was so excited I woke up at 5:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. Then I queued up an hour early (in the middle of a snowstorm), and met a lovely retired English teacher while waiting to be let in. The museum opened at 11:00am and I was already in the door and scanned in by 11:09am. I took an obscene amount of notes and spent a total of five straight hours in the space to make sure I was able to soak up as much Bowie goodness as possible.
So now here it is, five years too late, but my total review of the David Bowie Is Exhibit (obviously not spoiler-free).
Note: No pictures were allowed, but there's plenty on the Internet to outsource (and I bought the coffee table book), so just get ready for a lot of text and Googled photo links! Also, a lot of his work is written about as if you have a firm background in Bowie-lore:
tl;dr review for the casual blog reader:
★★★★★ (5/5)
It's a well-curated exhibit that, with the exception of some nit-picky things, definitely did NOT disappoint (even after a five-year build up of anticipation!). The plaques on the walls give all levels of Bowie fans a solid overview of who he was, the work he did, and why the items are significant (with some fun little factoids here and there even a dedicated fan might not know!). Excellent for the most casual of museum-goers who know nothing about Bowie, but want to see something interesting, all the way to the most die-hard Bowiephile. Would recommend if you're a Bowie fan or not (but most DEFINITELY if you are!).
Longer Review for the In-Depth Connoisseur:
Emotionally, it was difficult to think that the exhibit premiered five years ago, and the retrospective was purely a celebration. A new, surprise Bowie album The Next Day had just been released, and after a decade of silence, the future looked bright for Bowie fans. Now, however, the retrospective couldn't help but have a bit of loss imbued within it, as the past tense references to his work never felt so...past.
The main benefit to seeing the exhibit at the end of the tour (and it's hard not to think of it like a homecoming without its king, as it premiered in Bowie's original home of London and finished its world tour in his final home of New York City), was that added content became available to the exhibition. Mainly, there was an annotated script of the Lazarus musical (which I'm still waiting for the DVD release of) and (amazingly) Bowie's own notes, props, and lyrics from his final album ★.
Collection wise, there was a great variety of Bowie artefacts. There were 54 different costumes/suits (from the early 70s to the 00s; along with a variety of shoes and accessories), 24 different handwritten lyrics/music sheets (from the late 60s to the 10s), instruments (some saxophones, guitars, even a stylophone, although I don't believe this last instrument was his own), sketches, paintings, notes and drawings from film/music video productions/concepts, studio sessions, concerts/set lists, diary entries, and plenty of archival footage - even a set of his Berlin apartment keys.
Although there was a heavy bias towards early-mid 1970s (specifically Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs, and Young Americans) and 1990s artefacts. Interestingly, the 1980s had almost nothing, with only the 1980 Pierrot costume from "Ashes to Ashes", two 1983 Serious Moonlight costumes, the Arabian rockstar Screamin' Lord Byron costume from 1984's Jazzin for Blue Jean, and the red suit from the 1987 Glass Spider Tour. There were a decent amount of set design notes and a small highlight about the design process for the album covers of Scary Monsters, Tonight, and Never Let Me Down, but nothing in comparison to other decades. The Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane had their typical abundance of wealth, with plenty of excellent costume highlights, notes, and music, but I was surprised to see how much content they had for Diamond Dogs and the 1990s.
However, costume-wise, there was still a great selection overall. I particularly loved that you could easily compare the costumes and generally see the exquisite detail that didn't get translated onto film. For instance, the costumes for "D.J." and the 1979 "Space Oddity" performances were more similar than I realised in their design. And it was great to be able to see how similar the red suit from the 1987 Glass Spider Tour was to the 1974 blue powder suit from the Diamond Dogs Tour (as if those two eras didn't have enough in common). The main things on my "Completist Wishlist" that I didn't get to see were the "1980 Floor Show" flame jumpsuit, the suit from the Russell Harty Show "Drive-In Saturday" performance (although I'm pretty sure the shoes were there), and the jacket from the "Heroes" album cover. I also would've chosen a different suit to highlight from Glass Spider, like his golden Hermes homage.
Display-wise, I would've liked to move the costumes to be a little more visible. Some of the pieces were placed really high up, so the detailing was lost on the extremely short (like myself). And the lighting on some of the costumes made it difficult to tell what the true colour of the piece was. For instance, the Starman jumpsuit and "Life on Mars?" turquoise suit looked different than how they're usually seen on video. But I couldn't tell if it was due to the lighting, the age of the costumes, an in film colouration, or something else altogether. Additionally, some of the costumes weren't complete. For instance, they had the iconic mustard yellow suit, but they didn't have the shirt or shoes to go with it.
I also would've chosen a different opening outfit or to display it differently to kick off the exhibit. Yamamoto's iconic striped bodysuit is a great choice, but it was displayed against a black background which made it feel like it could've been highlighted better, like with the impressive mirrors for the Starman suit at the V&A original exhibit. Also, perhaps this is more of a testament to Bowie more than the exhibit itself, but Bowie always paired his sound with a corresponding look/image. And when I see the striped bodysuit I think of Ziggy Stardust's jammin' glam rock. I don't think of the Deram days, but that's what started playing in my audio headset when I entered the exhibit. So it felt like an anachronism to be there.
That being said, however, one of the most impressive things to me was Bowie's visual genius. I already knew that he was a genius, and my respect for him as an Artist of the Ages has been developed and cultivated for over two years. I knew he was insanely talented in all things, and that he valued visuals just as much as the sound when it came to his art. However, I never knew the SCOPE or DEPTH of his conscious effort to tie the two together. Dear Lord, every single musical thing had a doodle or sketch or visual element attached to it. The level of storyboarding he did for his music videos and Diamond Dogs film/musical concept was also crazy impressive. It would not have been out of place for a film auteur's retrospective with the level of detail to type and vision of shots, lighting, costumes, setting, etc. etc. And I didn't even know how much detailed input he had in the stage productions of his concerts or that he wanted to create a movie based on his Young Americans album. One of my favourite notes came from his Diamond Dogs concept piece, which included labelling the time period as "Mythological" and that the characters, "They dance or gyrate at un-predetermined moments." (indeed, Orwell, Burgess, and Burroughs would be proud).
My main conflict throughout the exhibit seemed to run against the constant refrain of curation according to the theme ("David Bowie Is [fill in the blank here]") or according to chronology. The main idea seemed to be grouping everything thematically, so there were a variety of "rooms" that I explored accordingly. They all had proper "David Bowie Is [blank]" names, but I didn't write them down, so this is how I thought of them:
1) "Beginning" (Childhood/Pre-1969 Career)
2) "Space Oddity" highlight
3) "Entertainer" (Ziggy Stardust, Earthling, Album Covers, Baal, SNL)
4) "Writer"/Lyrics (Focus on Cut-Up Method, lyrics from 70s - 90s)
5) Early Bowie highlight ("The Mask" performance film, four costumes)
6) "Recording Studio" highlight (Notes from production/studio recording sessions)
7) "Life on Mars?" highlights
8) "1980 Floor Show" highlight
9) "Music Video" highlight (emphasis on the late 70s/mid 90s)
10) "Black and White" (highlight of 76-79 career)
11) "Rockstar/Concert Performer" (costumes, giant screens, set designs)
12) "Young Americans" Era highlight
13) "Actor" highlight/room (Elephant Man, Basquiat, The Last Temptation of Christ, Labyrinth, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawerence, The Prestige, Lazarus)
14) "Legacy" (final costumes, future artists that were inspired by Bowie)
15) "★" highlight (props, lyrics, sketches from final ablum)
Some areas pulled off this balance fairly well. For instance, I think the music video room did a great job at showcasing his groundbreaking work in developing the modern music while also showcasing appropriate costumes and props alongside them. As an example, they had the outfit from "D.J." alongside the video for it, with a great little blurb that highlighted how the crowd sequence is comprised completely of candid reactions of people seeing Bowie walking down the street.
However, most of the rooms had a weird spread of its artefacts. I couldn't figure out if this was simply how the gallery space itself was designed or if the layout could've been altered to better fit the thematic ties. For instance, the way they arranged Bowie's handwritten lyrics, which seemed to be arranged in no discernable order. The lyrics to "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" were sequestered away amongst Studio Recording Session notes instead of highlighted alongside the other Ziggy Stardust album lyrics of "Starman" and Five Years". Instead, "Oh! You Pretty Things" from the Hunky Dory album was chosen to be placed alongside them.
And all of these were separated from a whole wall dedicated to explaining Bowie's lyrical genius. Although this, in part, made sense, as the main highlight seemed to be showcasing his cut-up method of writing that he used for decades. Still, it was weird to highlight in this section the rest of the Ziggy album lyrics for "Ziggy Stardust" and "Lady Stardust" here, and away from their counterparts. Additionally, it didn't make sense, as it wanted to clearly display songs that strongly utilized this method of writing, so the exhibit displayed these two songs alongside "Blackout", "Get Real", and notes from the 1. Outside album which are all almost purely written using this technique. It would've made more sense to put the "Rebel Rebel" lyrics (1974) in this category, as the Cracked Actor documentary from 74 also showcased the cut-up method.
Not to mention how the "Actor" highlight was weirdly scattered everywhere, as his performance as Baal onstage was nowhere near his theatrical debut as the Elephant Man, and the Basquiat props were weirdly sequestered away from the rest of his movie highlights.
So it's no surprise that the flow of the exhibit felt slightly off, in particular going from the opening entryway of Beginnings/Space Oddity to the next room, which was a circular hodgepodge of Bowie goodness. It was a mash-up of Bowie's ascension to stardom featuring his career as Ziggy, his legendary performance (and costume) from Top of the Pops, his work onstage as Baal and on SNL, a look at his cut-up method, and a highlight of his album cover designs. All of these things are essential to understanding Bowie, but for the uninitiated, I think it would seem weird and unrelated to the previous room's strong chronological highlights of his first breakthrough hit "Space Oddity" (1969) and his pre-1969 life and career. (As a side note here, I thought they did a wonderful job with the "Space Oddity" highlight, even making sure to showcase the three different music videos Bowie did for it).
Not to mention that those first two rooms, along with the "Black and White" room and the "Young Americans" highlight room, were definitely more focused on a Bowie era rather than a unifying theme like Bowie's groundbreaking work as a stage performer or something like that. Instead, they all grouped an era/years of his life into a single area versus a larger theme to emphasize another aspect of his genius. Although even then they didn't strictly adhere to this rule. For instance, they also put the 1990 Sound + Vision tour outfit in the "Black and White" room to showcase how it was influenced by the 1976 ISOLAR I tour outfit. (To be fair, here I always appreciated the 1990 tour aesthetic for precisely this reason, and I liked that I could easily compare the outfits side by side).
Thus, as a result, to me, the organization of the embarrassing wealth of Bowie archival riches seemed a bit confusing and the flow wasn't obvious. Although I recognize that the Bowie purist in me wants a chronological timeline, the thematic grouping makes more sense because it allows for the novice to be able to enjoy and understand Bowie's work and why he is worth having a special exhibit for in the first place. As a result, I would probably have rearranged the rooms to try and reflect that. Ie, I would've had the lyrics all grouped together, the stage/concert performance costumes together, the silver screen and stage actor props and pieces grouped together, etc.
The other major conflict for me, in a similar vein, was the "mashup" versus the "purity" of Bowie's work. One of the major things I enjoyed about the exhibit was that everyone had a headset before going in. It was an audio-visual multimedia experience which I thought totally clung to the ethos of BOWIE. It would've been weird to have a retrospective without his music, and each exhibit had different audio to go along with it. I also liked that it was programmed so that you didn't have to click around. It automatically played as soon as you approached the corresponding artefact (aside from some minor technical glitches, of course).
The main thing, however, was that most of the rooms/exhibits had a mash-up of Bowie's top hits/singles. On one hand, if you don't know anything about Bowie, this is a good way to get a crash course sampling of his work across multiple decades. And he himself wasn't afraid of remixing and reimagining his own songs, so it certainly appeals to the Bowie who is always looking forward. However, the purist in me wanted his work to stand alone and let the audience discover the beauty and joy that was (and is) his unaltered (minus some remastering) musical genius. For instance, two of the most moving highlights for me were the rooms where his work stood alone, with just the handwritten lyrics, costume, and corresponding video of his performances for "Life on Mars?" and "Space Oddity". Both were stark, clear, simple displays of his uncompromising genius. And the final "Concert Room" at the end of the exhibit was by far my favourite, as it let the museum-goers feel like they were at a Bowie concert and feel his overwhelming sense of charisma and charm filter through the pixels of his straight-forward live renditions of his music.
But all that being said, I will admit I greatly enjoyed the mash-up of "I'm Afraid of Americans" and "Young Americans" - the thematic ties between the two were obvious, but I never knew that jungle rock and plastic soul could sound so good together. I thought the best use of the mash-up audio was actually during the pre-1969 area, where it was a great compilation of 1950s and 1960s artists that inspired Bowie, some of Bowie's earliest music like "Liza Jane", and audio clips from Bowie about his early life. In fact, I think they greatly underutilized the amount of great audio clips they could've had from Bowie throughout different highlighted rooms like the Studio Recording area.
This conflict aside, however, the whole exhibit was honestly a joy to behold. If nothing else, the sight of all the ACTUAL ARTEFACTS should move your soul. I must admit that when I heard the first strains of "Space Oddity" when I entered the exhibit I cried just a bit, thinking of this great man's career and what his work has personally meant in my life. The things I geeked out the most about were seeing his handwritten lyrics because it was such a personal and in-depth look at his creative process. However, I also got extremely giddy at seeing the Thin White Duke's costume complete with bandana from the 76 tour opener, the Young Americans suit that he wore on The Dick Cavett Show in 74, and Thomas Jerome Newton's costume from my favourite film The Man Who Fell to Earth.
And most, if not all, of my critiques simply come from a curation standpoint rather than a disappointment with their selection of artefacts. And the panels on the walls to introduce all the sections, plaques beside the pieces to give context/description, and general song selection were all thoroughly researched and excellent (it's almost as if professionals put it together!).
Not to mention that I loved how the exhibit seemed to have no boundaries for the "type of person" who wanted to attend. There were just as many children as there were elderly people who probably saw him in concert. There were all genders, ethnicities, and nationalities there too - in short, there was no single "Bowie fan" mould. The only way to categorise it is that there is no single category for a Bowie fan. Witnessing the universal interest in and love of this man first hand was singularly moving. I have never seen another exhibit that has engendered such a bridge between all walks of life.
And finally, anyone who says Bowie's a "pure artist" never looked at his expense notes. Every single concept, every single masterpiece had scribbles in the margins about the financial aspect of all of his visions, and clearly, he willingly compromised on quite a few. I included some of my favourites in the quotes below, which contain some of my favourite blurbs from the plaques on the walls, collaborators, and the Man Himself:
"All art is unstable. It's meaning is not necessarily that implied by the author. There is no authoritative voice. There are only multiple readings. Things have moved along quite rapidly since the pluralism of the seventies. We now have a young generation who are having to 'surf the chaos' so to speak, who are 'scanning' their way through events and images, reading life from its surface. There seems to be no time to develop depth. History is now an illusion, therefore theoretically future no longer exists. There is only today." -Bowie
"I wanted to be a sort of trendy person rather than a trend." - Bowie
"I was a kid that loved being in my room reading books and entertaining ideas. I lived a lot in my imagination. It was a real effort to become a social animal." -Bowie
"[The Next Day album cover] references censorship, conveys passage of time, affirms 'the spirit of great pop or rock music which is 'of the moment', forgetting or obliterating the past." - Barnbrook, designer of Bowie's album covers Heathen, Reality, The Next Day, and ★
"I like to keep my group well dressed. I'm out to bloody well entertain, not just get up onstage and knock out a few songs ... I'm the last person to pretend I'm a radio. I'd rather go out and be a colour television set." -Bowie
"Just as the layered influences from music, theater, and art, his songs build up meaning, "so that you see something new each time." In the 1970s, he was fascinated by chance as a catalyst for creativity. Alongside conventional songwriting methods, he used "cut-up" techniques and, in the 1990s, a random word generator. Seeing the visual as part of the process, he also used painting to test musical textures.
Bowie's songs rarely offer a straightforward or unified meaning. "I like the idea that they're vehicles for other people to interpret or use as they will," he said. Nonetheless, poetic phrases - "a gazely stare" or "hot tramp" - and anthems, such as "we can be heroes", are unmistakable Bowie and help to make him one of the most influential songwriters" - Panel from the Song Creation highlight
"A real kaleidoscope of meanings and topics and nouns and verbs, all sort of slamming into each other" -Bowie, about the cut-up method
Interviewer: What about love?
Bowie: I'm not at ease with the word 'love'. - Transcript from 1974 interview with Rolling Stone
"Use an unacceptable colour." "Think of the radio." "Don't be frightened to display your talents."
-Oblique Stratgies Cards by Eno
"Whatever the process or the external pressures, Bowie was renowned for his concentration, skill, and speed. He was ultimately always in control of his catalogue - conceiving, making, the nfiltering the final tracks for release." - Panel from the Studio Process highlight
maybe you should
construct chronokey (sic)
'dancing' table and
backdrop in case T.V.
people not over-cooperate.
suggestion
for attachment
to real body.
To be worn over
shirt of identitcal
chronocolour
(special-made
I suppose.)
((god. the expense.)) -Notes from the "Boys Keep Swinging" SNL puppet piece (just want to point out here that everything he wrote - even when it wasn't a song - was formattedd like a poem - never straight blocks of thought, but lots of drabbles everywhere. It was amazing.)
"Bowie wanted 'the music to look like it sounded.'" - Panel from the Concert Performer highlight
"Responses to Bowie's drum/bass remixes for his 97 tour ranged from 'almost too marvellous for words' to 'more disheartening than you could ever imagine.'" -Panel from the Earthling Frock Coat highlight
"Fucking David Bowie ... He wants me to do tour costumes or something." -Alexander McQueen
"After Denver we cannot continue by rail as whatever trains there are don't run on the days we need them. We will therefore go by Caravan-truck, or covered wagons or Pegasus-drawn chariots." -Aladdin Sane Tour notes
"What a show...Bowie manages to project more charisma during one song than most modern-day stars amange in a career." - Maurice O'Brien
"I have really now got the will, I will be and I will work." -Bowie
"He had an increasing problem with deafness in his right ear caused by a molar tooth problem. This led to ringing in his head toward the end of his life this became voices." -Bowie's notes on playing Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ
"There's old music, there's new music, and there's David Bowie." -Legacy Panel highlight
★★★★★ (5/5)
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