V&A Dundee will celebrate its Scottish roots with a new exhibition all about tartan.
The waterfront design museum will host two new shows about the history of plastic and the heritage of tartan over the next two years.
Announcing the programme highlights, V&A Dundee promises “a radical new look at one of the world’s best-known fabrics”.
In addition, it will tackle the subject of plastic’s controversial journey from “magical material” to a dangerous pollutant.
Tartan is an unescapable part of Scotland’s history and identity. It can be “adored and derided” according to the museum.
From music to fashion
The famous fabric provides inspiration for artists and designers alike, featuring in all aspects of culture, from music to the fashion of Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen.
It also has connections with war, rebellion and revolt, representing both unity and revolution in history as well as modern culture.
This is the first major exhibition curated by V&A Dundee. The museum is working with Jonathan Faiers, a professor of fashion at the University of Southampton.
Leonie Bell, director of V&A Dundee, says: “Tartan will be the first major exhibition curated by V&A Dundee, staged during the fifth year since the museum opened.
“It is a timely opportunity to look again at this historic and famous cloth, and the ways notions of Scottishness and tradition have been designed and subverted over centuries through one fabric.
“Tartan will also explore the global and enduring role of tartan today as a cloth that is loved, loathed, and lives on.”
Dates for your diary
V&A Dundee reopened on May 1 with its show Night Fever: Designing Club Culture. Running until January 9 2022, it follows the history of nightclubs from the 1960s to the present day.
The museum’s Scottish Design Galleries recently reopened after a refresh. New objects include a Jacobite garter.
Plastic: Remaking Our World runs from October 29 2022 to February 5 2023 and Tartan runs from April 2 to September 3 2023. Find out more here
Read more:
