'David Bowie Is' Exhibit To Go Digital

BROOKLYN, NY — "David Bowie Is" is done. The sold-out Brooklyn Museum exhibit was seen by thousands, but many more were left unable to get tickets for the record-breaking show before it ended on July 15.

But, for them, the exhibit will soon be available on a smartphone.

The show, an homage to the British musical icon who died in Manhattan in 2016, took a five-year tour of the world with the Brooklyn leg which started in February being its last.

Now, the recognition of Bowie's life and groundbreaking style will live on in the digital world as a virtual reality experience that fans can download on their smartphones with the touch of a button, according to an announcement made on the official David Bowie website.

This “digital re-creation” will be available this fall, it said.

Sony will spearhead the project with help from the David Bowie Archive, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and Planeta sound and media studio.

Offered in nine different languages, it will take users on a journey through a “deftly connected sequence of audio-visual spaces through which the work and artifacts of Bowie’s life can be experienced.”

Viewers will get an up-close-and-personal look at 3D scans of Bowie’s extravagant costumes and most treasured tchotchkes. The experience will even allow participants to virtually “wear” one of the singer-songwriter’s whimsical getups.

“These new digital versions of ‘David Bowie Is’ will add unprecedented depth and intimacy to the exhibition experience, allowing the viewer to engage with the work of one of the world’s most popular and influential artists as never before,” according to the announcement posted Monday.

The David Bowie Archive will donate a portion of the profits made to both the Brooklyn and Victoria and Albert museums.

Photo credit: David Bowie, 1982. Photograph by Greg Gorman. Courtesy of The David Bowie Archive