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Photos: First V&A East building tops out in East London ceremony

2021-12-15T13:42:00-05:00

Exciting news in the museum world as the first site of the long-awaited Victoria & Albert Museum’s East extension has officially topped out as of this week.

The new V&A East has been years in the making. After overcoming roadblocks which threatened its existence beginning with sharp public criticism at its inception in 2016 and lasting all the way until this past fall, when it was announced that a much-heralded partnership with the American Smithsonian institution had to be called off thanks to unforeseen circumstances caused by the pandemic.

The O'Donnell + Tuomey-designed building is one of two slated to transform East London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park into a premier destination for the city’s artistic community.

The building was inspired by an x-ray of Cristóbal Balenciaga’s 1956 silk taffeta dress and will house a slate of progressive exhibitions and an employment program which includes the newly-established V&A East Youth Collective along...

V&A faces pressure to return donations from Sackler family, tainted by role in opioid epidemic

2019-03-12T14:04:00-04:00

The V&A Dundee is facing mounting pressure to return philanthropic donations tainted by opioid profits. The museum has reportedly received a £500,000 grant linked to the Sackler family, who, as the owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, have been embroiled in controversy for their role in fueling the opioid crisis.

The Sacklers have been active philanthropic donors, giving hefty financial support to a number of prominent art institutions such as the Met, the Guggenheim, the Louvre, the Tate, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, and now the one in Dundee as well.

Debates on how organizations should handle donations have escalated in recent months with many beneficiaries feeling the pain. Last month, protests were held at both the Guggenheim and Metropolitan Museum of Art demanding the institutions distance themselves from questionable funding sources and remove the Sackler name from their buildings.

The V&A Dundee is among the list of high-profile institutions to be met with simi...

Anti-opioid activists protest Guggenheim's ties to Sackler Family, the prominent art donors making billions from OxyContin

2019-02-11T17:27:00-05:00

Over the weekend, a group of more than 100 protestors demanded that the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum refuse further funding from the Sackler Family. Led by the American photographer Nan Goldin and her organization PAIN (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), the activists have been targeting the billionaire dynasty and its pharmaceutical company for promoting the use of OxyContin, a highly addictive, narcotic painkiller that is widely considered to be one of "the most dangerous products ever sold on a mass scale."

The demonstrators took over the museum's iconic atrium on Saturday night, dropping thousands of fake prescription notes from the six-story building while others handed out pill bottles to confused museum-goers. As Goldin staged a die-in on the lobby floor, banners hung from the spiraling hallways with messages such as "SHAME ON SACKLER," and "400,000 DEAD." Afterwards, the protest moved onwards to the Metropolitan Museum, where one of the wings is paid for and named aft...

Sam Jacob Studio selected to design new entrance for V&A on Cromwell Road

2019-01-11T13:42:00-05:00

Sam Jacob Studio has won the competition to give the Victoria and Albert Museum's landmarked entrance on Cromwell Road a £2.25 million transformation. The commission comes one year after Amanda Levete's porcelain piazza and new entrance on Exhibition Road, which has helped the V&A achieve record visitor numbers.

The first phase of the Cromwell Road overhaul will involve a redesign of museum's iconic rotunda entrance, while the second phase will involve the lobby's entrance desk, furniture, toilets, heating etc. In their call for designers, the museum said their aim for the transformation is to "harness the potential of the impressive dome area while creating a space in which visitors feel at ease."

Sam Jacob—who has designed a number of gallery and exhibition spaces—beat out other firms Studio TILT, Nex, Gibson Thornley and John Puttick Associates for the bid. He also recently completed the V&A's first international outpost in Shekou, Shenzhen.

On the decision, acting director of d...

Diller Scofidio + Renfro and O'Donnell + Tuomey unveil designs for V&A East project

2018-11-02T16:43:00-04:00

London's Victoria & Albert Museum unveiled the anticipated design plans for the V&A East project in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Scheduled to open in 2023 as part of the £1.1 billion East Bank development, the project comprises of two interconnected sites: a new 5-story museum at Stratford Waterfront designed by Dublin-based O'Donnell + Tuomey Architects, and the new Here East collection and research center designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, with support from British architecture firm Austin-Smith:Lord.

V&A collection and research center at Here East

Interior rendering of the new V&A collection and research center at Here East, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Pictured above is a marquetry ceiling from the now-destroyed Altamira Palace near Toledo, Spain, c.1490. © Diller Scofidio + Renfro, 2018.

Flexible display space in the new V&A collection and research center at Here East, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. © Diller Scofidio + Renfro, 2018.

Rendering of Edgar J. Kaufm...

New drone video shows off Kengo Kuma's soon to open V&A Dundee Museum

2018-08-23T17:03:00-04:00

The V&A Dundee Museum designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma is a massively dramatic stone-and-glass building. Located in the Scottish coastal city of Dundee, it will be the first institution outside of London to associate with the famous "Victoria & Albert" name and is the architect's first foray into the UK.

Drawing inspiration from the country's famously photogenic cliffs, the new museum is a modern design with a jagged exterior that has drawn comparisons to a Star Wars spacecraft. Positioned between the water and the city, the new museum is at the center of an almost $1.3 billion transformation of the city's waterfront intended to give fresh weight to the idea of Dundee as a destination.

Photo by Hufton+Crow.

Set to open next month, the V&A Dundee Museum will focus primarily on fashion, architecture, design and photography. Its inaugural exhibition, Ocean Liners: Speed & Style, will explore the design and cultural impact of ocean liners on an international scale.

The museum...

Smithsonian London outpost confirmed

2018-04-10T14:16:00-04:00

The Smithsonian Institution has confirmed that it will work with the Victoria and Albert Museum to set up a joint gallery and exhibition programme in East London, on the former Olympic site. Yesterday (9 April) the Smithsonian’s regents (trustees) gave formal approval for their first base outside the US.

We first reported about the Smithsonian Institution's interest in setting up its first-ever satellite gallery outside of the U.S. back in 2015. A lot has changed since then, and evolved, scaled-back plans now foresee a collaboration with the V&A.

Three-story segment of Robin Hood Gardens acquired by V&A Museum ahead of demolition

2017-11-09T15:38:00-05:00

A three-storey chunk of an east London council estate that is venerated and despised in almost equal measures has been acquired by the V&A. The museum announced it had made one of the most unusual property deals in its history: rescuing an enormous chunk of the Robin Hood Gardens estate, complete with walkway and maisonette interiors.

Completed in 1972 and considered an icon of brutalist architecture — representing the good and the bad traits of the movement, depending on the perspective — the Tower Hamlets "Robin Hood Gardens" council estate is being demolished. By salvaging an intact piece of the building designed by Alison and Peter Smithson, the V&A seeks to preserve a significant moment in history.

V&A Museum addition includes $70M all-porcelain public courtyard

2017-06-30T17:33:00-04:00

The bold addition features the world's first all-porcelain public courtyard, paved with 11,000 handmade porcelain tiles in 15 different patterns. The tiles were manufactured by Koninklijke Tichelaar Makkum, the Netherlands' oldest registered company, established in 1572.

After six years of construction, the Exhibition Road Quarter, AL_A-designed courtyard space opened yesterday in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, adding 11,840 square feet of column-free flexible gallery space to the museum to help accommodate the V&A's headline exhibitions. Intended as a meeting point, public square and museum entrance, AL_A's extension is V&A’s largest architectural intervention in over 100 years.

Tristram Hunt to resign as MP to take job as head of the V&A

2017-01-13T12:27:00-05:00

Tristram Hunt, the former shadow education secretary, has announced that he will resign as a Labour MP to become the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The move, which will come with a salary of over £145,000, will also trigger a by-election in Stoke, a constituency that is vulnerable to poaching by Ukip or the Conservative Party. Hunt has been vocally critical of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

According to the Guardian, Hunt’s appointment was a “genuine surprise”. That being said, higher-ups the art world have largely greeted the news warmly. Others have cause to worry: back in 2010, Hunt griped about free admission to London museums and called for reintroducing charges for national museums. But the V&A has said that Hunt is “fully committed to free museum entrance”.

The V&A's Martin Roth on Brexit: 'Me-first mentality' spreading through Europe is 'brutal'

2016-09-09T11:04:00-04:00

Martin Roth, a German and director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, sees the result of the UK's referendum as a personal defeat.

One of the contributing factors for the V&A's director Martin Roth to leave the V&A was Brexit, he tells DW:

"Our international networks will not collapse, but their background is being questioned. Until now, we had assumed we were all working together towards a common platform. Now that platform has been smashed."

Although perhaps not the only reason Roth left, as The Guardian reports, such a high profile figure in the creative profession publicly announcing his distain for Brexit cannot have a positive impact on the UK's integrity as a leader in the creative arts.

Fabricated robot installation at the V&A unveiled as part of their first Engineering Season

2016-05-18T12:00:00-04:00

To mark the beginning of it's first ever Engineering Season, the V&A has revealed a new large-scale installation in the John Madjeski Garden; Elytra Filament Pavilion.

The pavilion's components have been fabricated by a robot at the University of Stuttgart and then assembled on site. Utilsing biomimicry principles the structure is inspired by lightweight construction principles found in nature, specifically the fibrous structures of the forewing shells of flying beetles known as elytra.

This is the first public commission in the UK for experimental architect Achim Menges who has teamed up with Moritz Dörstelmann, structural engineer Jan Knippers and climate engineer Thomas Auer.

Achim Menges said: “Advances in the technologies of making have always been a catalyst for design innovation, which is nowhere more evident than at the V&A. With Elytra Filament Pavilion we aim to celebrate a truly contemporary and integrative approach to design, engineering and production, resulting in a dist...

Shortlist announced for UK's top museum prize

2016-05-09T10:27:00-04:00

The Art Fund’s Museum of the Year shortlist was announced...with Bristol’s Arnolfini; the Bethlem Museum of the Mind in south London; Jupiter Artland near Edinburgh; London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and the York Art Gallery in the north of England being nominated for the £100,000 prize.

Relating articles:

London Design Festival has revealed a host of installations for 2016

2016-05-04T12:29:00-04:00

Installations announced for LDF 2016 include a giant curved walkway made of sustainable wood, a takeover of a disused stairwell and sit-in boxes that aim to address the housing crisis. The Smile, designed by Alison Brooks Architects, is an outdoor installation supported by the American Hardwood Export Council and ARUP, and is a 36m-long curved rectangular tube made from sustainable timber.

Here are some more of this years offerings:

Baboushka Boxes are design by dRMM and supported by financial company Legal & General as well as the homeless charity Shelter.

Created by consultancy Gilthero and supported by Italian watch maker Panerai, The Green Room will be based in a stairwell at the V&A and explores the concept of time.

The much discussed crazy gold course conceived by Sir Paul Smith which still needs to raise £120,000 through Kickstarter to happen.

Already announced the live robotically sculpted canopy at the V&A.

For related installations, check these out:

Amanda Levete Architects Chosen for V&A Exhibition Road Site

2011-03-28T15:46:41-04:00

Amanda Levete Architects has won the V&A’s Exhibition Road competition and will go on to develop their team’s concept design as part of the FuturePlan strategy for the museum. The ALA scheme will transform the remaining undeveloped quadrant of the V&A’s London headquarters and create an exciting new relationship with Exhibition Road and the surrounding South Kensington area.