V&A Dundee opening announced

Published On Thu 18 Jan 2018 by Roddy Isles

The University of Dundee, as one of the founding partners, is delighted to share the news today that V&A Dundee, Scotland’s first design museum, has confirmed its opening date and first exhibition.

V&A Dundee, Scotland’s first design museum, will open to the public on Saturday 15 September 2018.

It will be the only V&A museum in the world outside London: an international centre for design, a place of inspiration, discovery and learning. Visitors to V&A Dundee will experience the remarkable story of design past, present and future, and the vital contribution design makes to all our lives.

Designed by internationally acclaimed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, V&A Dundee stands at the centre of the £1 billion transformation of the Dundee waterfront.

With its complex geometry, inspired by the dramatic cliffs along the east coast of Scotland, it stretches out into the River Tay – a new landmark reconnecting the city with its historic waterfront, and a major new cultural development for Scotland and the UK.

V&A Dundee is being delivered by an innovative founding partnership of the V&A, Dundee City Council, the University of Dundee, Abertay University and Scottish Enterprise.

Professor Sir Pete Downes, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee, welcomed the news of the opening date and first exhibition.

“This is a major event for the city and for Scotland, the opening of Scotland’s first design museum,” said Professor Downes. “It is also a major event for us, the University. We are a founding partner of V&A Dundee and indeed the first conversations which sparked the idea to bring the V&A to Dundee happened at the University.”

The new museum will feature permanent galleries of Scottish design, as well as an ambitious international programme of changing exhibitions showcasing the very best of design from around the world, new design commissions, fast-changing installations by emerging designers and creative projects developed through learning programme for all of V&A Dundee's audiences.

The new museum enables V&A’s most ambitious exhibitions to be shared more widely across the UK. The opening exhibition `Ocean Liners: Speed & Style’, supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and investment managers Baillie Gifford, will explore the designs behind a mode of transport that came to represent the status of nations and the aspirations of millions.

Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee, said, “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. V&A Dundee is set to be a vital new cultural organisation for Dundee, the UK and beyond, helping to change understanding of just how important design and creativity are to people’s lives. We are enormously grateful to all our supporters for helping to make this happen.”

V&A Dundee is being developed with support from the Scottish Government, Heritage Lottery Fund, Dundee City Council, the UK Government, Creative Scotland, Scottish Enterprise, University of Dundee, Abertay University and many trusts and private donors.

For full information visit the V&A Dundee website

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head of Corporate Communications
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
Tel: +44 (0)1382 384910
Mobile: 07800 581902
Email: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk