Culture The David Bowie V&A exhibition could be the last of its kind - our memories are digital now Read More Featuring a two-month long exhibition (6 April – 28 May) as well as a stellar line-up of live music and talks inspired by the album (21 & 22 April) Bowie describedALADDIN SANEas ‘Ziggy Goes To Washington: Ziggy under the influence of America’. The album was to be Ziggy Stardust's last stand, and the persona was laid to rest three months after the album's release in July 1973 at the infamous final showwith theSpidersFromMarsat London’s Hammersmith Odeon.

It was in this rather surreal atmosphere that Bowie wrote his sixth album Aladdin Sane, currently celebrating its 50th anniversary with a remastered reissue and Aladdin Sane: 50 Years event season at London’s Southbank Centre, including a tribute concert featuring Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, Anna Calvi and Roxanne Tataei. It will also look at the music scene of the early 1970s, when Bowie and Brian Duffy first met, and go on to chart the relationship that developed between the musician and photographer.Bowie, one of the most influential and revered musicians of the 20th century, died with liver cancer on January 10 2016, two days after his 69th birthday. Ziggy is quite polite in a way,” says Bobby Gillespie, frontman with Primal Scream. “Whereas Aladdin Sane, the band are hot from touring. It has that raw live energy. It’s definitely a more druggie sound, more of a decadent atmosphere, it’s more ragged and a bit sloppier. It’s in your f***ing face. And all the better for it.” He later had the opportunity to photograph Bowie alongside his father in 1980 for his 14th studio album Scary Monsters. The Southbank Centre Archive will also present a separate free display exploring David Bowie’s history with the Centre, stretching over 50 years, and his ongoing legacy. From his performance in the recently opened Purcell Room in 1969, to later performances alongside Lou Reed and his curation of Southbank Centre’s annual contemporary music festival, Meltdown, never before seen archival material will be available for public view.

The album was preceded by two singles‘The Jean Genie’and‘Drive-In Saturday’,peaking in the U.K. singles chart at numbers 2 and 3 respectively,and was the first time he topped the U.K. album charts. It also markedBowie’sdebut on the U.S. charts reaching the top 20 album chart there, where an edited version of‘Time’was released as a single. From Ziggy to Thin White Duke, to the Lodger, Scary Monsters. So he fundamentally understood the power and importance of image.” Photographer Chris Duffy calls the image “the Mona Lisa of pop”. It was shot by his father, Brian Duffy, a renowned celebrity photographer who died in 2010. Bowie and Brian Duffy enjoyed a fruitful creative partnership: Aladdin Sane was the first of three album covers they shot together. This new pressing ofALADDIN SANEwas cut on a customised late Neumann VMS80 lathe with fully recapped electronicsfrom 192kHz restoredmasters of the originalmastertapes, with no additional For the shoot, Bowie had a striking flash painted on his face. Chris reveals how his nan had a part in influencing an image that also echoed a design used by Elvis and his ‘TCB’ (taking care of business) motto.Chris refers to the cover as "the Mona Lisa of Pop", and it remains Bowie’s most recognisable album sleeve. It also provided him with a brand logo in the form of the flash but it’s the small teardrop on Bowie's shoulder that adds a further uncanny quality. The exhibition, which is based in the Spirit Level at the Royal Festival Hall, will explore this idea of how Bowie continuously reinvented his image throughout his career and inspired his fans to do the same.

They will discuss exhibitions ranging from The Rolling Stones’ Exhibitionism (2016) to Amy: Beyond the Stage (2021). Broakes will chair a conversation with Chris Duffy discussing the Aladdin Sane: 50 Years exhibition and the enduring relevance of the album. Speaking to the Guardian on the eve of the exhibition’s opening, Chris Duffy said that for his father it was “just another job”. He added: “I don’t think any artist gets up in the morning and thinks I’m going to create a piece of brilliant art or a cultural icon. It’s all about timing. A lot of things came together at the right time to produce this.”There will also be talks exploring Aladdin Sane, Bowie, and his cultural significance. The National Poetry Library presents Aladdin Sound with ten of the UK’s most exciting poets in the Centre’s Purcell Room on 21 April. It’s a work that continues to inspire today’s contemporary artists and the gender fluidity of the images still resonate deeply in queer culture in the UK and across the world.” Also among the exhibition is behind-the-scenes information on how the lighting bolt make-up was created as well as other shots taken in the same session with Bowie’s angular face captured in many ways. The famous picture of David Bowie on the cover of Aladdin Sane was taken by Brian Duffy (commonly known as ‘Duffy’).