V&A unveils new future sites and collections in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

The V&A has unveiled plans that will aim to ‘revolutionise’ how its collection of art, design and performance is accessed, explored and experienced.

The V&A East project will create two interconnected sites in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park - a brand-new museum at Stratford Waterfront, as well as a new collection and research centre at Here East.

They will open in 2023 as part of East Bank, the £1.1bn powerhouse of culture, education, innovation and growth taking shape in the park as part of the Olympic legacy.

V&A East will also host a unique partnership between the V&A and the Smithsonian Institution - the largest museum and research complex in the world.

V&A’s deputy director and COO, Tim Reeve, said: “V&A East is timely and ambitious. It will - for the first time - illuminate the entire life cycle of museum practice in a transformational experience for visitors.

“From the moment of an object’s acquisition, through its conservation, the research, enquiry and debate that follow, to its display as part of the story of an exhibition, this 360-degree view is unprecedented and will revolutionise how people experience, and are inspired by, our collection.

“Whether in Stratford, South Kensington, Scotland or Shenzhen, we are continuing to open up the vast collection that the V&A holds on the nation’s behalf.

“We hope that V&A East becomes a place that sparks the imagination and provides creative opportunity for generations to come.”

V&A East is set to provide a 360-degree view of the V&A.

Situated in East London and surrounded by four of the city’s fastest-growing and most diverse boroughs, V&A East will be firmly rooted in its local neighbourhood and global in outlook.

At Here East, the new collection and research centre will reinvent the idea of a museum store. Visitors will be invited on behind-the-scenes journeys that uncover and demonstrate how and why objects are collected, how they are cared for, conserved, researched and displayed, and how they help make sense of our past, present and future.

The centre will be purpose-built for 250,000 objects and an additional 917 archives spanning the breadth of the V&A’s collection from fashion, textiles, furniture, theatre and performance, to painting, sculpture, ceramics, architecture and digital.

With a design led by New York-based practice Diller Scofidio + Renfro (supported by Austin-Smith:Lord), the collection and research centre will bring archives into public view for the first time in generations.

A central public collection hall will turn the store inside out, with a rich array of objects on rotating display for visitors to explore.

Further spaces within the centre will host pop-up displays, workshops, performances and screenings alongside live encounters with the museum’s work - from conservation and research to exhibition preparation.

Two galleries will showcase the full range of the V&A’s collections and a programme of major exhibitions will sit alongside new commissions, installations and interdisciplinary collaborations and projects.

The museum at Stratford Waterfront will sit alongside UAL’s London College of Fashion, a new, mid-scale venue for Sadler’s Wells, and new BBC studios for performance, rehearsal and broadcast.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, commented: “As London’s centre of gravity extends east, our plans for East Bank make sure that high-quality culture and education are right at the heart of the development and of our Olympic legacy.

“I’m truly delighted that the V&A - and its partnership with the Smithsonian Institution – is one of the world-renowned organisations working alongside us to drive forward growth and inspire more young Londoners to take up creative careers.

“By bringing large parts of its vast programme to two new sites at East Bank, the V&A will open up access to the world’s greatest collection of art, design and performance.”

The V&A East project opens the latest chapter for the V&A in East London that began with the opening of the Bethnal Green Museum in 1872 - now the V&A Museum of Childhood which is itself undergoing a transformation project in the coming years.

Secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, Jeremy Wright, concluded: “As one of our world-class museums, the V&A showcases Britain’s cultural history around the globe.

“These ambitious plans will bring the museum and its vast collection to new audiences and help continue the economic regeneration that East London has undergone since 2012.

“We are also providing government funding to help move the museum’s world class treasures in storage at Blythe House into some of these new, modern facilities that will help further boost the V&A’s public displays.”