LONDON – Imagine being able to visit a museum and examine up close thousand-year-old pottery, revel alone in jewellery from centuries past or peer inside a Versace bag.
Now, London’s V&A has launched a revolutionary new exhibition space, where visitors can choose from some 250,000 objects, order something they want to spend time looking at and have it delivered to a room for a private viewing.
Most museums have thousands of precious and historic items hidden away in their stores, which the public never gets to see or enjoy.
But the V&A East Storehouse, which opened on May 31 in a specially converted warehouse, has come up with a radical new concept. And it is totally free.
Senior curator Georgia Haseldine said: “Museums should be and are for everybody… the V&A’s collection is for everybody. It belongs to everybody, and everyone should be able to have free, equitable and meaningful access to it.
“So, this is a world first. Never has anyone been able to be invited freely, without having to book into the same space as a national collection, on this scale.”
One-fifth of the museum’s total collection is now available to be viewed and enjoyed in the four-storey building on the former site of the 2012 London Olympic Games.
No protective glass
British drummer Keith Moon’s drum kit is among some 250,000 objects available to the public for viewing.PHOTO: AFP
“It’s fantastic, it’s so much better than an ordinary museum,” said retired physics teacher Jane Bailey as she toured the floors. “I’m just really, really impressed by it. We’ve only just heard about it, but it’s phenomenal.”
She was transfixed by the sight of the drum kit which belonged to Keith Moon from English rock band The Who, saying it would be great to be able to resuscitate the legendary drummer – who died in 1978 – to play a set for them.
Jostling for space side by side on shelves in a massive hangar – which resembles a do-it-yourself commercial warehouse and stretches for more than 30 basketball courts – are everything from ceramics and tapestries to paintings and toys from the Tudor period.
There is even the whole 15th-century gilded wooden ceiling from the now-lost Torrijos Palace in Spain; and the Kaufmann Office, a panelled room which is the only complete Frank Lloyd Wright interior outside the United States.
The gilded ceiling from the now-lost Torrijos Palace, originally from the town of Torrijos near Toledo in Spain, at the V&A East Storehouse.PHOTO: AFP
Hanging on display is the stunning stage front cloth made for Le Train Bleu – a copy of a Pablo Picasso painting that was specially designed for the 1924 Ballets Russes production. Its huge size means it has rarely been seen since its stage debut.
There is no protective glass.
The stage front cloth made for Le Train Bleu – a copy of a Pablo Picasso painting that was specially designed for the 1924 Ballets Russes production – at the V&A East Storehouse.PHOTO: AFP
One of the first visitors to the Storehouse was Princess Catherine, a patron of the V&A and keen art lover, who took a tour on June 10.
She described the collection as “eclectic” as she used the “order an object” system to look at a samples book from renowned 19th-century English textiles designer William Morris, as well as rolls of ornate textiles and a musical instrument.
An example of a Frankfurt Kitchen, which is the first type of fitted kitchen, on show at the V&A East Storehouse.PHOTO: AFP
All the works are available to the public seven days a week, and can be reserved via an online booking system for a private viewing at a date and time of your choice.
Members of staff are on hand paying close attention as visitors don purple gloves and satisfy their curiosity, spending time with the object of their choice.
A love letter to objects
It is a huge departure from the usual admonishment of “Don’t touch!” found in most museums seeking to protect their objects from damage.
Dr Haseldine acknowledged “we have certainly met with some levels of scepticism and worry”.
But she said once the idea was explained properly, including how meaningful it is to start to open up and give collections back to a community, “people just start to think creatively about how we can do this”.
American national Manuel Garza, who lives in London, thought the V&A Storehouse was “one of the most interesting spaces that just opened up here in London”.
One-fifth of the V&A museum’s total collection is now available to be viewed at the V&A East Storehouse, which is in the four-storey building on the former site of the 2012 London Olympic Games.PHOTO: AFP
Dr Haseldine said “this building is a love letter to objects”.
“To be able to see around the back of an object, to be able to look inside a dress, to be able to see the bottom of a pot – all these things are how we really learn about our material culture,” she added.
A Glastonbury Festival painted bin at the V&A East Storehouse.PHOTO: AFP
Expert Kate Hill, who teaches cultural history at Lincoln University, said it is unusual for museums to open up their storehouses.
“Most of the time, they offer some ‘behind-the-scene’ tour, but their objets are not accessible. It’s visible, but not accessible.”
Ms Bailey said: “I would hope that this is the museum of the future because some are very, very stuffy. We went to one recently and it was excruciating.” AFP
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