Outside the new branch of the V&A in east London, a large five-metre-tall figure stares expressionlessly towards the former Olympic Park.
Thomas J Price’s sculpture is deliberately constructed as an “average” drawn from scans and images of local residents. The idea of representing the diverse communities of East London in this way seems appealing to a museum seeking to connect with its public, but the result is twofold: by flattening individual differences, the figure loses nuance and identity.
This tendency to find the “average” is reminiscent of the logic of digital algorithms. There is a fear that even such a museum could begin to predict visitors’ tastes and direct them towards what they “like,” avoiding any challenge or surprise. But once inside the building, this fear fades: instead of a filtered experience, a much richer, more diverse, and open world emerges.
The first gallery of objects from the new collection is impressive. A constructivist carpet by Eileen Gray dialogues with Derek Jarman’s punk sets and costumes by Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo. But it’s Althea McNish’s textiles that grab the most attention, proving that a designer working within the mass-production industry could have a more profound impact on the aesthetics of post-war Britain than many names in high fashion. In the accompanying video, McNish talks about bringing the colours of her Trinidad to Britain – a clear example of how cultural difference does not weaken, but rather shapes, a society’s identity.
The exhibition also addresses broader themes: a Japanese screen depicting the arrival of European sailors is placed next to a textile documenting the 2011 Egyptian revolution, bringing to mind the history of colonialism and imperial violence. A section dedicated to William Morris, linked to nearby Walthamstow, shows that objects are always displayed in relation to their place of origin. Like McNish, Morris showed that design integrated into everyday life can improve society as a whole.
In the inaugural exhibition, “The Music Is Black: A British Story,” visitors are fitted with headphones that guide them through a maze of videos, costumes, and photographs, accompanied by the corresponding music. This ambitious attempt to tell the story of the musical cultures of the African diaspora in Britain is necessarily vast and elusive in its entirety, but it is precisely in this scope that its value lies: it opens the way for other stories, from the birth of grime to the anti-racist movements of 2 Tone in the 70s.
Essentially, this exhibition functions as a model for the museum itself: a space where the history of the institution intertwines with the cultures that challenge and transform it. Music and information together create an experience where sensitivity and thought do not walk separately, but collide and coexist.
The exhibition does not attempt to soften or resolve the contradictions of the history of slavery and racism. Rather, it places them alongside the music that was born of them, asking the visitor to simultaneously hold them in mind and experience – both the pain and the creative power that it produced. /GazetaExpress/
t7 live
