The First V&A Dundee in Scotland

Scotland will open its first V&A Dundee museum, outside of London on September 15. The new museum is set to be an international centre for design, featuring permanent galleries with emphasis on Scottish design as well as the very best of design past, present and future and other vital contributions from around the world.

“After many years of planning for V&A Dundee, we are absolutely thrilled to announce the date of the new museum’s opening… In just eight months we will be opening the doors and welcoming our first visitors.” – Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee

These galleries will be free to enter and about 300 exhibits covering architecture, ceramics, engineering, fashion, furniture, healthcare, jewellery, textiles, and video game design will occupy these galleries.

“I am especially excited that part of V&A Dundee’s opening programme will be the breath-taking exhibition Ocean Liners: Speed & Style, the first of many ambitious exhibitions at V&A Dundee that will show how our lives have been – and always will be – shaped by design,” added Long.

Designed by internationally acclaimed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, the museum’s architecture is inspired by the dramatic cliffs that is part of the transformation of the historic waterfront of Dundee, a former industrial giant, named the first UNESCO City of Design in the UK in 2014.

Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A said: “V&A Dundee will build on our deep connections to the story of Scottish design and its meaning for modern practitioners, sharing our collections and world-class exhibitions. This is a cultural milestone for Dundee and a new opportunity for the UK to show the world how art and design can educate and inspire.”

V&A Dundee: Key Highlights of the Scottish Galleries

At the centre of these Scottish galleries feature Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Oak Room, a 13.5m long panelled room designed for a tearoom in Glasgow in 1907, will be shown in fully restored form after being placed in storage in hundreds of pieces nearly 50 years ago.

Other highlights in the Scottish Design Galleries include a 15th-century Book of Hours, a Cartier ‘Valkyrie’ diamond tiara, original Beano artworks from Dundee publishers DC Thomson, and the snap40 digital device, which is designed to improve healthcare.

Elsewhere in the museum, Turner Prize-nominated artist Ciara Phillips has created a site-specific commission drawing on research into textile histories and Scottish ceramic production that will welcome visitors to the upper floor galleries.

A full schedule of temporary exhibitions are also planned, and upon its opening, the museum is due to present “Ocean Liners: Speed & Style,” a show exploring the golden age of ocean travel that will arrive in Dundee after showings at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts and the V&A in London.

For more information about V&A Dundee, please visit www.vandadundee.org.