A first look at London’s V&A East Museum, with senior curator Madeline Haddon

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2:18This Saturday, the Victoria and Albert Museum will open its latest outpost, V &A East. So, what can London expect from its new art museum? Hi, and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. I'm Tamara Kormornik. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. Coming up, a first look at London's V &A East.

2:52the victoria and albert museum in south kensington houses one of the world's largest collections of decorative arts spanning 5 000 years since last year archival items have become available to view at its storehouse in east London's Olympic Village and this weekend the museum's latest outpost and sister location V &A East will be open to the public. In today's episode I speak to Dr Madeline Haddon who is the senior curator of V &A East to get a sneak peek of the new museum. Here's my chat with Madeline.

3:36hi Madeline thanks so much for joining me on the standard podcast it's great to have you hello thank you so much for having me I'm delighted to be here so Madeline we are speaking ahead of the public opening of V &A East an incredibly exciting moment for London um Madeline you've been instrumental to this project. Could you walk us through the concept of this new museum and some of the differences between this new space and its long-standing and much-loved South Kensington counterpart? Well, we are very excited to be opening V &A East Museum. We are located in the heart of the Olympic Park. And what makes us different is that we are a museum that's been co-created with young people, especially young creatives and East Londoners.

4:28In the museum, we have two floors of permanent collection galleries entitled Why We Make, which are objects from the V &A's collection, over 500 objects that trace what have been the motivations for making across different times and cultures and countries, and the design of them are especially inspired by East London, and look at motivation for making from the angles of issues that are important to our audiences, such as representation, identity, well-being, social justice, sustainability. Then we also have a temporary exhibition space where our first exhibition is on the history of Black British music.

5:08It's called The Music is Black, British Story. And we also have a new program that we're launching entitled New Work, which is a series of rotating artists' commissions that will be both here at the museum as well as at Storehouse, engaging with some of the artists and designers who we see as shaping contemporary culture and who are really addressing some of the most urgent issues of our time through their work. In terms of the look and feel of the new museum, could you kind of take us on a journey of what it feels like to be in the space? You know, what can people see and the design really of the building?

5:44Our building at V &A's museum is designed by the architecture firm O'Donnell and Toomey, and they have created an incredible space. You encounter art from the minute that you walk within our spaces. So when you walk into our lower ground entrance, actually the first thing that you see as you're approaching the building is a 16 foot tall sculpture by the artist Thomas J. Price, his tallest sculpture yet of a young woman. and the work is entitled A Place Beyond and it is the figure that welcomes you into the space of V &A East Museum and you next encounter a beautiful stained glass piece by Tanya Bergera in dialogue with a sculpture by Theaster Gates.

6:24I mentioned V &A East Museum is a place that's been designed especially with young people and thinking about welcoming in the next generation of museum visitors is embedded within all aspects of our building design and gallery design. So it's a really welcoming and engaging space. And when I think about going to the V &A, I always think about walking to the entrance and you're just being hit by Choluli's astounding chandelier. So I, for one, am very glad to hear that kind of legacy of really outstanding art just being front and center of the museum as you walk in is a great feature. The V &A East Storehouse in the Olympic Park, that's been open for almost a year now, which is quite a different museum concept, inviting the public to view items that are not on show in South Kensington.

7:22What kind of response has the V &A had to this initiative to broaden access to the archive from the public? I mean, the response has been incredible. Within the first three months of V &AE Storehouse being open, we surpassed the visitor numbers that we had projected for our entire first year of being open, which is a tremendous achievement. So we've had over 5 ,000 visitors already to Storehouse. I think it really speaks to the appetite for a new model of museum, one that is much more transparent and open. And we have loved sharing these stories of what our conservation teams are working on or how our curatorial team thinks through acquisitions and displays, what our technical services team does.

8:06one of the things I'm most excited about from that angle is thinking about all of the young people who come and visit us and how that might be inspiring the next generation of museum curators and museum conservators, but also of artists and designers and makers of all kind. And so we particularly achieve that through our order and object service at Storehouse, which allows you to request to see objects in the collection through an individual appointment, which has had great success. It's really, it's booked up weeks and weeks and weeks in advance. We'll take a quick break here. Coming up, I asked Madeline about expanding the V &A's offer when arts funding is at risk.

8:49And of course, what's on offer in the cafe? We'll be back here in just a moment.

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10:26Welcome back. Let's get back to my chat with Madeline.

10:33so let's go back to vna east it's located in the olympic park closely linked to the storehouse will a lot of the work be east london based or will the work have a kind of global component that you know a lot of people know uh the vna for in south kensington there will be both east london is a place of so much diversity and so many international cultures that have made their home there. So the story of East London is a very global story and we celebrate that as well. So we work especially with East London-based artists and designers, for example, in our New Work Commission series, we have a piece created by East London-based artist Rini Madich, who is a Turner Prize-nominated artist from this year's Turner Prize, who's created a new sculpture for us made out of a series of light boxes that speaks to not only our theme for the commissions making East London, but also to our exhibition, The Music is Black, A British Story, and really tell us through photography how Black British music has been a connective tissue across so many communities in the UK.

11:48And I must ask you, for a lot of people, the museum cafe it's a staple activity during a visit i must ask the burning question what is on offer in the cafe i have been telling people you will come for the art you will stay for the food here at v &a east museum our cafe jacconi is absolutely amazing it is the new outpost of Giaconi Restaurant, which has its headquarters in Marlebone. They've now created their new site here at V &A East Museum, and the food is absolutely delicious. We've had a chance to have a couple soft lunches here, which have just been amazing. And it is food that is from all around the world, a celebration of the many histories and cultures that have made London it made London its home particularly focused on South Asian cultures and and flavors and it is going to be absolutely so popular I cannot tell you how excited I am for it.

12:57And Madeline I'd like to talk a little bit about funding now so some British cultural institutions such as the National Gallery they've reported a deficit in their budget yeah how are the VNA affording to expand and thinking long term, how financially viable are these East London outposts when arts funding in general is at risk? So we have been very grateful and fortunate to have a number of supporters in enabling both V &A's museum and V &A's storehouse. And this very significant investment has come from Citi and the Mayor of London, as well as investment from private donors and foundations and a coalition of supporters have made this possible.

13:47And especially as part of a new public offer within the city, you know, at B &A's Museum is part of a larger cultural campus that is opened up here in Olympic Park called East Bank. And we are located next door to London Collins of Fashion and a new site for the BBC and a new site for Sadler's Wells. You know, we see ourselves as a very important resource here within the city and new campus. You know, we have a lot to look forward to over the next couple of years. It has been a difficult time for arts and culture, but especially with V &A East, we show new models of how museums can attract and excite newer audiences and more diverse audiences.

14:26And that's going to be key to sustaining arts and culture and sustaining museums. And so I think that we're, you know, modelling a new way of thinking about how museums can operate. Well, I, for one, well, for many, I'm sure, I'm very excited to visit the new V &A East. Thanks so much, Madeleine, for coming on The Standard podcast today. Thank you so much for having me.

14:53And that's The Standard. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk If you're new here, hit follow and give us a rating. If you'd like to get in touch, email us at podcasts at standard.co.uk We'll be back here. We'll be back here on Monday morning. See you then.

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