Given that it’s one of the world’s leading art and design museums, it’s no surprise that the V&A collaborates with LDF, and they’ve got another bumper programme for 2023. Here’s what you wanna see…
Hana Mikoshi
The V&A and London-based Hayatsu architects, together with Gifu Prefecture in Japan, are celebrating washi paper by taking inspo from a Hana Mikoshi (flower shrine) for an installation in the Daylit Gallery. During workshops across the summer, visitors to the museum have been decorating the sculptural seating installation with 50,000 mino washi paper flowers, in reference to the annual Mino Matsuri festival where local people come together to make paper shrines.
Maya: The Birth of a Superhero
This immersive installation and VR experience follows Maya, an ordinary girl who transforms into a superhero whose powers come from having her period. Referencing ancient symbols of spiritual and feminine power, it’s a tale of womanhood and femininity that imagines a path to resilience and justice.
Unstruck Melody
British-born Canadian artist Nirbhai (Nep) Singh Sidhu and UK arts organisation Without Shape Without Form have collaborated on the Unstruck Melody installation, which includes tapestry, sculpture and film, that explores contemporary Sikh teachings and their impact on design.
Part Exchange
Andu Masebo is responsible for this year’s V&A Emerging Designer Commission during LDF. With Part Exchange, they’re telling the story of a scrapped car through a series of objects inspired by the people who it came into contact with and reconfiguring the parts of an Alfa Romeo Cloverleaf into domestic furnishings.
But She Still Wears Kohl and Smells like Roses
This series of objects and film reexamines the history of glass in Syria and Palestine. Replica glass vessels from the V&A collection excavated from the region are being displayed while the original vessels in the glass gallery are replaced with tomb cards that highlight the violence involved in retrieving ‘grave goods’ as well as the power of the female body in archaeology.
Cromwell Rd, London SW7 2RL
vam.ac.uk