Last Stop for the David Bowie Museum Tour (Brooklyn)

March 5, 2018 4:13 AM

“David Bowie Is,” an exhibition that unveils the rock icon’s complete artistry, expands as it arrives at its final stop: the city he called home.
posted by MovableBookLady (18 comments total)

Great exhibition; I saw it when it went through Chicago, and it sounds as if it's been added to. Maybe this is what will get me back to Brooklyn after 20+ years.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:35 AM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

I saw it in Barcelona last summer, and I already have my ticket to this. I would be going again even if there hadn't been new objects; the costumes for "Blue Jean" and "Ashes To Ashes" had me mesmerized. They're absolutely stunning. And if I recall correctly, Bowie told Ms. Korniloff before she created the Pierrot costume that he wanted it to make him the world's most beautiful clown, and WOW! She totally delivered. It's just a fantastic piece of work.
posted by droplet at 6:22 AM on March 5, 2018

I need to seeeee thiiiiiiiiiis.....I was going to try to check it out during Brooklyn Museum's monthly free Saturday, but I think it was ticketed-only.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:26 AM on March 5, 2018

I have missed this in at least three cities. And I've tried. Oh, how I tried.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:35 AM on March 5, 2018

I wrote a paper about the Chicago incarnation of this show for an art history/museum studies, and then posted a less-academic-y version of the paper on my website. The gist: I think the biggest success of the show in the end is that it creates a space where you're just communally enjoying Bowie fandom with a bunch of other fans. And if that sounds trivial, it's a pretty moving thing in practice.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 7:33 AM on March 5, 2018 [8 favorites]

it's a pretty moving thing in practice.

Very moving. I mean, there are notes and sketches there about the stage show that Bowie had planned around the songs that make up Side 1 of Diamond Dogs (Side 2 was mostly the music from his aborted Nineteen Eighty-Four musical), the main character of which was... Halloween Jack. I felt like I was looking at my own secret origin.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:54 AM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

Oh, how I tried.

I missed it on Saturday because too many people showed up to the Brooklyn Museum's on their free admission night!
posted by little onion at 7:58 AM on March 5, 2018

little onion: I heard that you needed tickets for that, were they letting people in as part of the Free Saturday after all??
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:27 AM on March 5, 2018

Saw it in Chicago, planning on going to Brooklyn. It was such a moving experience in 2014 to see it, so I can only imagine what it will be like to see it now. Does admission come with a pocket-pack of tissues for those of us likely to be sensitive to all the dust that will no doubt be swirling around the galleries?
posted by the return of the thin white sock at 10:25 AM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

I saw it when it was in Groningen, after missing it at the V&A and in Chicago. It's really fantastic, and yeah, I'm going to echo the phlegmatic king: being there with all the other fans elevates it.
posted by sldownard at 10:40 AM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

I live on the west coast and am planning a trip to Pittsburgh this summer and it's not crazy to consider "swinging over" to NYC for this.... right?
posted by nakedmolerats at 11:28 AM on March 5, 2018

nakedmolerats: I once flew from NYC to London just to see David Tennant in a play. A day trip from PIttsburgh to NYC when you're already kind of in the area to take in a museum show seems positively sane by comparison.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:39 AM on March 5, 2018

I saw it here in Melbourne just months before he left the world. It was wonderful. I was glad I saw it while he was still with us, although I wonder whether it would now be more intense, appreciation heightened.
posted by andraste at 12:11 PM on March 5, 2018

What impresses me about the costumes is how contemporary a lot of it looks even now. He had a great eye.
posted by zzazazz at 12:40 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'm going the day after my birthday midweek in May (the museum is closed tuesday); when I checked for my cousins it looked like there were still plenty of tickets.

I saw the original London exhibit, then Berlin and Tokyo when I found out there would be stuff not included in London (which is why I'm going to see the NY stop too).

I hope that this is a trial run for a permanent museum.
posted by brujita at 6:49 PM on March 5, 2018

Hang on, it's due to land in Dundee for the new V&A. I am very confused.
posted by kariebookish at 2:34 AM on March 6, 2018

Is there a chance this might get extended? I’m due in New York the week after it’s scheduled to close.
posted by pxe2000 at 3:57 AM on March 6, 2018

Just saw this today.... it's amazing and inspiring and you should see it if you can.
posted by kokaku at 6:01 PM on March 7, 2018 [1 favorite]