I’ve had a lot of interesting and enjoyable conversations in recent years with Tim Reeve, deputy director and chief operating officer of the Victoria & Albert Museum since 2013. That’s because he has been centrally involved in the V&A setting up two exciting new branches on the Olympic Park.
The first, V&A East Storehouse, opened on 31 May last year at Hackney Wick. It is the revolutionary new home of the museum’s vast reserve collection, open to the public with lots to see and the opportunity through the “order an object” service to make an appointment to be shown items that are stored out of view.
The second, the V&A East Museum is on the Stratford side of the park forming part of the the waterfront section of East Bank, the still emerging culture and education hub near Westfield and the London Stadium. The distinctive building, deigned by Dublin-based architects O’Donnell and Tuomey will open to the public on 18 April and is already being beckoned towards it by a very tall sculpture of young woman by Thomas J Price.
In our latest Talk About London podcast, I and London Society chair Leanne Tritton asked Tim about V&A East and also the vital importance of culture in the life of the capital city. Watch below.
You can every edition of Talk About London and also every edition of my own separate podcast series, True London, here.
Follow Dave Hill on Bluesky and at LinkedIn.
OnLondon.co.uk is funded by sales of publisher and editor Dave Hill’s twice-weekly newsletter On London Extra. To start receiving it, become a paying subscriber to Dave’s personal Substack. Thanks.