CHLOE Magazine Fall Winter 2015 Volume 6 Issue 1 | Page 47

It is easy to be mesmerised by Bowie’s powerful visuality in a media saturated world where the role of the ocular is increasingly essential to thinking across a range of motifs. UK Now seen by more than 1 million people worldwide, the exhibition will include more than 50 legendary costumes, original stage set designs, handwritten lyric sheets, album artwork, rare film, video and photographs, and interviews with collaborators. The David Bowie Is program of events incorporates film, live talks, music, live performances and other creative works. It is the must-see event of the winter season. Nested within this cornucopia of exhibition delights is a two-day multidiscipline symposium, The Stardom and Celebrity of David Bowie (July 17-18). The symposium – at which both writers of this piece are participating – explores an array of topics including Bowie’s most interesting artistic collaborations; his performative history in mime, theatre and film; the poetic sensibility of his cut and mix lyrics; and fashion and artistic trends and their influences on his own unmasked “transgressions” of sexuality, race and class. In addition, a number of creative artists will respond to Bowie’s work through their own practice. Installation artist Jamie O’Connell will calibrate a photocopier so that it counts the number of times a piece of Bowie memorabilia is auctioned and bought in the world. In this piece, Bowie becomes the star who is sold to the world. It is easy to be mesmerised by Bowie’s powerful visuality in a media saturated world where the role of the ocular is increasingly essential to thinking across a range of motifs. We sometimes see too much but are asked to feel too little. Bowie, by contrast, turns seeing upside down, and wraps the strings of feeling around his envisioned worlds and characters. A fascinating artist, Tanja Stark, draws on visual expression to present her creative work that places strong emphasis on Bowie’s visionary opus. Visitors are offered a walk-through sonic and visual labyrinth as a means to explore the archetypal theme of the profound personal and sometimes mysterious journey. Stark’s work acts to reflect the impressions left by Bowie’s presentation of the scintilla sublime or those mesmerising moments which make one swoon. By way of concentrating research debate and critical analysis around Bowie’s music, art and video work, the symposium offers a full circumnavigation of the significant implications of his incredible oeuvre, and deals with notions of “stardom” more broadly. So, who is David Bowie? I’m not a prophet or a Stone Age man Just a mortal with the potential of a superman I’m living on