Curators of the new David Bowie immersive exhibition want to feel like you’re having a pint with the late legend as well as de-mystifying his legacy
Ever fancied having a pint with David Bowie? Now you almost can thanks to the creators of an immersive new spectacle.
David Bowie: You’re Not Alone opened at London’s Lightroom this month, a 360 degree multimedia self-portrait of the late icon merging incredible concert performances with interview footage explaining his creative philosophy in his own words.
Director Mark Grimmer hopes it reveals the real man, rather than the myth: “His sense of humour was something that really came across. What we kind of wanted was to imagine going out for a pint with Bowie, sitting down and hearing him, riffing on his various enthusiasms. And we tried to create a little bit of that intimacy and that conversational nature.”
Bowie’s peers and famous admirers ranging from David Gilmour to Noel Gallagher attended the opening night to experience the Starman take flight again.
Childhood fan Boy George was in awe, as he has been his entire life: “I think Bowie was a brilliant curator of pop culture. He took from things that inspired him, and he inspired us. There were so many moments where Bowie picked up what was really happening in the world.
“He was so ahead of his time. Bowie was a straight guy in makeup that understood that sexuality was an interesting place to play around with. Bowie was such a great ally, a person to inspire, and it hasn’t stopped.”
Almost 50 Bowie tracks feature, newly reconfigured to utilise Lightroom’s spatial audio system, and it’s not just the obvious hits.
Co-director Tom Wexler said: “We wanted to strike that balance between some of the big, heavy hitters that everyone knows, but also some of the material that people might not be so familiar with. Things like The Loneliest Guy, him looking at you in the eye, and then to find the Hurricane footage of his last ever stage show was quite something.”
That rare film of Bowie was captured on June 25, 2004 at the Hurricane Festival in Scheeßel, Germany – his final full concert shows him seemingly clutching his arm and grimacing. Was it part of the drama in Bowie’s performance? Or him pushing through real pain as it later transpired Bowie had suffered a blocked artery and collapsed backstage afterward.
Co-director Mark Grimmer commented: “It was always a loaded and emotional performance, he did a performance of it on (talkshow) Parkinson, which was really powerful as well.”
The creators had access to every camera angle ever pointed at Bowie, so while you experience him singing an impassioned Heroes in 1978 you are literally flanked on either side by rapturous fans at Earls Court, and more behind you cheering him on.
“You can get a very different experience depending on where you choose to look,” says Grimmer. “So it does give the audiences a lot of agency to make your own edit in the space.”
Besides the music You’re Not Alone is a fascinating insight into Bowie’s creative process and passions.
“When he’s not performing he is such a enthusiast,” says Wrexler who pieced together hours of interviews. “He’s a relentlessly inquisitive, curious, enthusiastic person. It has this sort of energy, that makes you want to go out and throw yourself into culture.”
The show runs at London’s Lightroom until June 28, with various special events taking place throughout the coming months.
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