Alistair Hardaker
Image: External render view of the new V&A East Museum at Stratford Waterfront, designed by O'Donnell + Tuomey. © O'Donnell + Tuomey Ninety90, 2018
Museum reveals opening date alongside details of inaugural exhibition on Black British music and new rotating commissions programme.
The V&A’s new East Museum will open on 18 April 2026, it has revealed, alongside details of the museum’s opening exhibition and programming.
The five-storey building at East Bank in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, designed by architects O’Donnell + Tuomey, is the sister site to V&A East Storehouse, which opened in May 2025.
The museum will open with its first landmark exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story, with a Sound Experience by Sennheiser. It will include Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar, fashion worn by Little Simz and newly acquired photographs by Jennie Baptiste, Beezer, Dennis Morris, Eddie Otchere and Sam White.
Gus Casely-Hayford, V&A East Director, said: “We have created V&A East Museum with and for our audiences, as a welcoming space for all, embedded in east London and with a global outlook, that reflects the multiculturalism of this incredible place that has been the beating heart of creativity for centuries. V&A East Museum is for you– my hope is you’ll find joy, something of yourself and a sense of belonging the moment you walk through the door.”
The museum will launch a new six-monthly rotating creative commissions programme across both V&A East Museum and Storehouse sites. Eight new artworks by Tania Bruguera, Es Devlin, Lawrence Lek, Turner Prize-nominated artist Rene Matić, Shahed Saleem, Justinien Tribillon, Carrie Mae Weems and Laura Wilson will be unveiled on opening. A monumental new work by Thomas J Price, A Place Beyond, will welcome visitors into the museum.
The V&A has also announced a partnership with BBC Music, which will include complimentary programming inspired by the opening exhibition. V&A East will collaborate with East Bank partners UAL: London College of Fashion, the BBC, Sadler’s Wells East and UCL East on a new annual festival celebrating creativity, collaboration and community. The first edition, The Music is Black Festival, will launch in spring 2026.
The museum will feature two free permanent ‘Why We Make’ galleries displaying over 500 objects from the V&A’s collections. Designed by JA Projects in collaboration with the V&A East Youth Collective, the galleries present works across 10 themes including representation, identity, wellbeing, social justice and environmental action.
Objects span multiple periods and cultures, from Italian Renaissance paintings and 16th century scent cases to an 18th century Spitalfields silk dress and 19th century coral jewellery from India and Tibet.
Displays will include works by Leigh Bowery, Claude Cahun, Ladi Kwali, Yasmeen Lari and the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, Althea McNish, Jo Spence and Maud Sulter. New acquisitions on display include works by Yinka Ilori, ceramic artist Bisila Noha, the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh, fashion designers VIN + OMI and Molly Goddard, items from King Owusu x Lazy Oaf’s fashion collaboration, and zines by east London-based One of My Kind and Rabbits Road Press.
Jen McLachlan, V&A East Project Director, said: “Our design is driven by the idea of openness — a building that welcomes its community, celebrates creativity, and frames the exchange between art, people, and place. It’s not just a museum, but a civic space for dialogue, discovery, and shared experience.”
V&A East Museum was co-created with young people, creatives and those living, working and studying in east London.
