David Bowie Museum Exhibition to Be Shown Live in U.K. Movie Theaters

LONDON – The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has inked a deal with Picturehouse Entertainment, the distribution arm of exhibitor Picturehouse Cinemas, to bring the museum’s wildly popular exhibition “David Bowie Is Happening Now” to movie screens across the U.K.

The “live cinema event” on Aug. 13 coincides with the conclusion of the famous British capital museum’s show, which collects items and memorabilia from the musical innovator and cultural icon’s life and work.

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The movie theater event will give audiences across the U.K. an opportunity to join the museum for a live event as the finale to the exhibition. The live show will be introduced and hosted by exhibition curators Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh and will feature unnanmed special guests offering insight into the stories behind some of the 300 objects on display from the David Bowie Archive. The curators and guests will offer a cinematic guided tour of sorts of the exhibition and bring additional history and anecdotes to the objects on display. It’s understood that Bowie himself won’t be part of the show. 

The show will be directed by BAFTA winning director Hamish Hamilton and produced by Done & Dusted Productions. Hamilton’s numerous event credits include the live TV coverage of the opening and closing ceremonies at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It will be the last opportunity to experience the exhibition in the U.K. before it goes on international tour in Jan. 2014, starting at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada followed by the Museum of Image and Sound, Sao Paulo.

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The V&A’s Bowie exhibition sold more than 67,000 advance tickets, beating pre-sales records for any other exhibition in the museum’s 150-year history. It has already been seen by nearly 200,000 visitors.

V&A director Martin Roth said: “This is the first time the V&A has taken part in a live broadcast event of this magnitude and we are extremely excited to be working with such a talented production team to present the phenomenon that is David Bowie to the widest possible audience.”

The event will be distributed to cinemas by Picturehouse and shown Aug. 13 in over 200 cinemas across the U.K.

The plans are supported by the David Bowie Archive.