For the Artblog Cologne I wrote an article about my visit to the fabulous new Victoria & Albert East Storehouse in London. See full article here.
Walking through the beautiful V&A East Storehouse in London, I was thrilled by its revolutionary concept.
In the very first moment that the V&A East’s grand interior revealed itself, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu. This vast museum, with its sweeping vistas and endless shelves of cultural artifacts, reminded me of something decidedly less romantic: an Amazon warehouse.
The comparison might seem jarring, even irreverent. But the museum’s innovative “Order an Object” service—as revolutionary as it is—positions visitors as consumers browsing a celestial catalogue of history and art. We become the architects of our own experience, following the whims of our curiosity through this magnificent space.
Yet this raises a question that haunts me still: when we dispense entirely with the guiding hand of the curator, do we risk losing something essential? The greatest moments of learning rarely occur within the comfortable aisles of our existing interests. They happen when we are confronted with perspectives not our own, when we are pushed into unfamiliar territory by a vision greater than our own.
The V&A East’s democratization of culture is both necessary and admirable. But in championing radical individual choice, do we inadvertently create echo chambers of personal taste? Sometimes, the most rewarding journey is the one we are guided on—a path that leads us to destinations we never knew we were looking for.
