The museum (formerly known as the Museum of Childhood), will re-open following a three year transformation.
It has been announced that the Young V&A will open its doors to the public once more on the 1st July 2023, following a three-year transformation to showcase the power of creativity and displaying remarkable and optimistic stories of children’s ingenuity alongside 2,000 works from the V&A’s collection of art, design, and performance for families to enjoy.
Designed for those aged 0-14, the Young V&A will be filled with full of hands-on experiences including sensory playscapes, a finger skateboard park, an ‘Imagination Playground’ construction zone,a performance and story-telling stage, open design studio, and sandpit.
Other aspects of the museum visitors can enjoy will include:
– An interactive Minecraft installation in the Play Gallery’s game design space ‘The Arcade’. The installation, built by Blockworks with support from Mojang and Microsoft, begins in a recreation of Young V&A’s Town Square, before taking visitors across real and imaginary worlds created by Minecraft players across the globe.
– New murals by street artist Mark Malarko inspired by creative workshops with children at Weavers Adventure Playground, nearby Young V&A. A self-confessed ‘doodle warrior’, Malarko is known for his cartoon-like characters and vibrant street art in cities around the world from London to Athens, Barcelona, and Berlin.
– This Is Me, a co-curated display of new portraits by photographer Rehan Jamil capturing young people expressing what creativity means to them, set alongside self-portraits by leading creatives from Chila Kumari Singh Burman to Quentin Blake, Kenneth Branagh, Dapo Adeola, and Linda McCartney.
– The Design gallery will include 1913 prints designed by The Suffrage Atelier demanding equality for women, artwork from the XR Families Group encouraging children to express their concerns for the environment through arts and crafts, and works by icon and youth climate activist, Greta Thunberg.
– Innovative creations by young people made for Raspberry Pi’s Coolest Projects competition devising new tech solutions, including a gas leak detector designed by 11-year-old Sashrika Das and the EleVoc 2022 human-elephant conflict device by Chinmayi Ramasubramanian, aged 14.
Meanwhile, the museum has also confirmed details of its first exhibition Japan: Myths to Manga, which is set to open on the 14th October. From sky to sea, and into the forest and city, the exhibition takes visitors on a trip through Japanese history to explore how landscape and folklore have influenced popular culture, technology, and design. Alongside a series of sensory interactives and activities, the exhibition features films such as My Neighbour Totoro (1988) and Ponyo (2008) from the iconic animation studio, Studio Ghibli, a manga-inspired coat by Comme des Garçons, and dizzying heel-less shoes by Noritaka Tatehana, plus plenty of Pokémon. Also on show is Doodle Champion Island Games (2021), a role-playing browser game created by Google with Studio 4°C, epic sculptures by Keita Miyazaki and a moving installation of 1,000 cranes – a symbol of remembrance from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan.
Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A, said: “Children and young people have been disproportionally affected by the pandemic and its aftermath, alongside the dramatic fall in creative education in schools. Young V&A is our response: a flagship project investing in creativity with and for young people and their futures. We are using our stunning collection of art, design and performance to open the nation’s favourite design club for all children and young people. In new galleries and exhibitions, from early years spaces to teenage games design rooms, our plan is to foster Britain’s next generation of artists, thinkers, makers, innovators, and entrepreneurs.”
For more information about the museum visit: https://www.vam.ac.uk/young