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Chief Curator
V&A East
V&A East is a new two-site project for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The V&A East Storehouse, a purpose-built collection and research centre located at Here East will open in spring 2025 and the V&A East Museum at East Bank, will open in 2026.
V&A East Storehouse
I joined the V&A East project in its early stages in 2015. As Chief Curator, I led curatorial planning across both sites - from conceptualising and planning the public experience of the V&A East Storehouse to planning collection galleries, exhibitions and public art commissions at the V&A East Museum at East Bank. I built and led an integ
I joined the V&A East project in its early stages in 2015. As Chief Curator, I led curatorial planning across both sites - from conceptualising and planning the public experience of the V&A East Storehouse to planning collection galleries, exhibitions and public art commissions at the V&A East Museum at East Bank. I built and led an integrated team of curators across collections, learning, engagement, interpretation and programming.
V&A East Storehouse is designed by Diller, Scofidio & Renfro Architects. I developed the architectural brief for the project with Tim Reeve, V&A Deputy Director and COO, and V&A East Project Director Claire McKeown, and our respective teams. The public competition was held in 2018.
V&A East Storehouse is a new home for c.300,000 of the V&A's collection objects, its archives of art, design and performance, and includes public spaces for research, close study, learning and making alongside an extensive array of displays and galleries for discovering the collection.
V&A EASt museum
The V&A East Museum is designed by Dublin-based architects O'Donnell & Tuomey. Their unique faceted design took inspiration from the Japanese concept of Ma (the space inbetween) and creative references from Balenciaga to Vermeer. Over 5 storeys visitors will enjoy collection galleries, special exhibitions, creative programming, talks, tou
The V&A East Museum is designed by Dublin-based architects O'Donnell & Tuomey. Their unique faceted design took inspiration from the Japanese concept of Ma (the space inbetween) and creative references from Balenciaga to Vermeer. Over 5 storeys visitors will enjoy collection galleries, special exhibitions, creative programming, talks, tours and events, alongside spaces to dwell, rest, eat and drink.
Input into curatorial and operational planning from local people, especially young people, was critical to the evolution of the V&A East project. Through an annual paid programme, the V&A East Youth Collective explored what they wanted to see and do at V&A East and took part in critiquing curatorial planning as ideas evolved. This audienc
Input into curatorial and operational planning from local people, especially young people, was critical to the evolution of the V&A East project. Through an annual paid programme, the V&A East Youth Collective explored what they wanted to see and do at V&A East and took part in critiquing curatorial planning as ideas evolved. This audience-led approach included collaborative projects with creative practitioners such as Resolve Collective - image above shows their site exploration and planning workshop while they were creative youth producers in residence - to test ideas with the Youth Collective for future implementation.
I led the conceptual development and appointment of the design team for the V&A East Museum galleries with the curatorial and projects teams. In 2021 JA Projects with APFEL were appointed to design the collection galleries, titled Why We Make - a transhistorical and transculture changing gallery exploring the motivations behind artistic p
I led the conceptual development and appointment of the design team for the V&A East Museum galleries with the curatorial and projects teams. In 2021 JA Projects with APFEL were appointed to design the collection galleries, titled Why We Make - a transhistorical and transculture changing gallery exploring the motivations behind artistic practice, design and innovation. The image above shows the winning concept for the gallery, currently under construction on levels 1 and 2 of the V&A East Museum.