David Bowie is becoming a Medium

Speaking to the BBC in 1976, Bowie claimed that his career was built on the desire to “be the instigator of new ideas….to turn people on to new things and new perspectives…to be that sort of catalytic kind of thing.“ He described rock music as a medium through which he could achieve this impact and speculated that he would move from using rock in this way to becoming a medium himself, saying, “hopefully that’ll happen one day…that’s really why I do it…to become a medium.” This talk takes Bowie’s characteristically self-aware and oblique statement as a starting point for an exploration of his extraordinary creative impact and cultural status. Sharing insights gained during the making of ‘David Bowie is’ at the V&A, it explains how the exhibition was devised to perpetuate the catalytic and inspirational power of Bowie’s art, style and music. Presented by Dr Kathryn Johnson, Assistant Curator for the ‘David Bowie is’ Exhibition from the V&A Museum.