iVictoria and Albert MuseumSouth Kensington
Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific
A landmark V&A collaboration with Brisbane's QAGOMA, showcasing over 40 contemporary artists and First Nations perspectives from across Asia, Australia and the Pacific.
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At the entrance stands a Māori security guard, life-sized in fibreglass, arms folded, his white shirt taut over his belly. That's Michael Parekōwhai's Kapa Haka (Whero) from 2003, and his stance borrows from Māori dance.
Behind him, the Porter Gallery holds more than 70 works by over 40 artists from 25 countries, all drawn from 30 years of the Asia Pacific Triennial at Brisbane's QAGOMA, and many never shown in the UK. The first room has painted bark cloth from Papua New Guinea and shark headdresses. Later come Judy Watson's paintings for the dead and spinifex baskets lined with feathers. You finish in a room with two large sculptures, one of them a Kyoto temple carved in cypress together with its own reflection, hanging in mid-air.
The Reviews Hub called it "a brilliant showcase", and one blogger noted it comes in "bite-sized portions". The curator says it rewards slow looking and suggests a weekday visit. Tickets are £17, with concessions, and it's open until 22:00 on Fridays.
Look for
Kapa Haka (Whero)
Look for Parekōwhai's life-sized fibreglass security guard at the entrance, arms folded, his white shirt pulled tight over his belly.
Judy Watson's memory bones
White vertebrae curve over an ochre storm, painted in 2007 for an Aboriginal man who died in custody.
Shirley Macnamara's spinifex baskets
Baskets woven from spinifex grass, their insides layered with emu and galah feathers.
Reflection Model (Perfect Bliss)
In the final room, Takahiro Iwasaki's three-metre cypress model of the Phoenix Hall at Kyoto's Byōdō-in, built as the temple and its reflection at once, hangs in mid-air.
Lotus sound
Montien Boonma's 1992 installation of terracotta bells, inspired by Buddhist temple grounds, shares the last room with Iwasaki's temple.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- Going Solo
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want a blockbuster: one reviewer found it compact, served in bite-sized portions.
Free in the same building
- Ceramics GalleryNearly 30,000 pieces spanning Neolithic pots to Chinese porcelain, Italian maiolica, Delftware, and Sèvres: the world's largest ceramics collection.
- East Asia Collection (China, Japan & Korea)Chinese, Japanese, and Korean art and design from jade carvings and lacquerware to samurai armour and Buddhist sculpture.
- Fashion Collection3,000 years of dress from ancient Egypt to today: one of the world's most comprehensive fashion collections, free to explore.
- Furniture Gallery600 years of furniture-making, from Tudor masterpieces to 20th-century design icons, including the Great Bed of Ware (1590s).
- Jewellery Gallery3,500 pieces spanning 3,000 years, from ancient brooches to Art Deco tiaras, in the William and Judith Bollinger Gallery.
- Medieval and Renaissance GalleriesSculptures, stained glass, tapestries, and illuminated manuscripts from 300–1600 AD across 10 interconnecting galleries.
- Photography CentreThe UK's largest permanent photography galleries across seven rooms: 1840s daguerreotypes to contemporary digital practice.
- The Cast CourtsFloor-to-ceiling plaster casts of Renaissance masterpieces including Michelangelo's David and the full height of Trajan's Column.
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Image credits
9
- Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the PacificCourtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum
- Becoming America: How Science Shaped a NationCourtesy of Science Museum
- Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the DeepCourtesy of Natural History Museum
- Sir Richard Owen: A Natural LegacyCourtesy of Natural History Museum
- Victoria and Albert MuseumDiliff / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Science MuseumChristine Matthews / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Natural History MuseumDiliff / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Serpentine GalleryTxllxt TxllxT / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Saatchi GalleryAnthony O'Neil / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0