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A self-proclaimed New Yorker, David Bowie lived in New York City for over two decades between the years 1992 – 2016. Considering the “multitude of lives” he lived, staying rooted in one place for that long is significant, indicative of his intimate relationship with New York, its endlessly diverse people and its creative atmosphere. Over the years, Bowie’s love for the city has become cemented in stone, influencing his music in ways that continue to perpetuate his legacy today.
To this day, you can very obviously see the impact Bowie has had on the world of music and beyond by strolling through the streets of New York, visiting some of his favorite haunts and walking in his very footsteps. As a tribute to Bowie, coinciding with the debut of his subway takeover (read more below), here are five such places, events and sights that celebrate the legendary musician:
In true New York City fashion, David Bowie has taken over the Broadway-Lafayette and Bleecker Street subway stops. A collaboration between Spotify and The Brooklyn Museum, the stations have been covered in Bowie-themed subway ads, images of fan-made works and wall-sized depictions of pieces currently on display at the museum’s new David Bowie Is exhibition.
According to a Spotify blog post, each piece is paired with something Bowie has said that “speaks to his affection for the city and its impact on his work, giving further insight into the artist’s mindset and methods.” The underground experience includes unique Spotify codes to brings fans closer to Bowie’s music, as well as limited edition, keepsake MetroCards that will be available for purchase inside the Broadway-Lafayette station. These MetroCards each display one of five Bowie personas including Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, and Thin White Duke. The “takeover” will be on view until Sunday, May 13th, and MetroCards are already selling on eBay with “Buy Now” prices ranging from $9.99 to $299.
Untapped Cities contributor, Laurie Gwen Shapiro, came across a curious find on 42 Bond Street: a David Bowie-themed gate in front of an otherwise nondescript townhouse. “… [it] has bits of David Bowie’s face and you can only see him if you are walking and from a certain angle,” she tells us after spotting the installation. Each side of the gate features a different image that’s been cut into strips and split up among the rungs. According to Shapiro, they’ve been there since Bowie’s death.
Photograph from the album cover shoot for Aladdin Sane, 1973. Photo Duffy © Duffy Archive & The David Bowie Archive
The traveling exhibit David Bowie Is, currently located at the Brooklyn Museum, is a tour de force that explores the life and influences of Bowie through an extraordinary collection of items predominantly from the David Bowie Archive. Iconic costumes, personal diaries, photographs, sketches, instruments, film, and more come together visually, while audio — Bowie’s songs, voice recordings of Bowie talking about himself, audio from projected films — is played over the headphones you wear, coordinated with the exhibit as you walk through.
David Bowie Is opens with context on Bowie’s life growing up in south London and the suburbs around the city, and his first ventures into the avant- garde scene in London. Then, we witness his first steps into the limelight, transforming from David Jones to David Bowie by 1965. Read more about the exhibition here.
Although David Bowie was born in London and stayed in several other cities throughout the course of this career, he had a truly special connection to New York City: “I can’t imagine living anywhere else,” he said in a 2003 interview with The New York Times. “I’ve lived in New York longer than I’ve lived anywhere else. It’s amazing.”
In another interview featured in a 1991 New York magazine, he further summarizes his experience in The Big Apple: “When I first came to New York, I was in my early 20s, discovering a city I had fantasised over since my teens. I saw it with multicoloured glasses, to say the least. Also, I rarely got up before noon and hit the sack again around four or five in the morning.” To get a taste of the life he lived while staying here, take a look back at five sites he frequented, which you can visit on a self-guided walking tour.
Little Cinema is conducting the rest of its “Bowie in Film” series until June 2018. The Little Cinema experience is best described as “Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Cirque du Soleil with an arthouse sensibility.” The first of its series, Basquiat (Immersive), happened in March, with the film Basquiat being screened along with intervals of live music, dance performances, hoop performers and acrobats, live painting on the balcony, and the DJ giving parts of the film’s dialogue the sound of electronic music.
On May 18, Little Cinema and House of Yes are hosting a dance party, “Night of 1000 Bowies,” featuring live performances and a Bowie-inspired makeup station and photobooth. Then on June 14, Bowie’s musical dark fantasy adventure film Labyrinth is being performed in an immersive style, with similar features as Basquiat.
Next check out our full coverage of the David Bowie Is exhibition, now on view at The Brooklyn Museum.
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