Slideshow: a sneak peek of the blockbuster David Bowie exhibition at the AGO

By Michelle Reddick | September 25, 2013 AT 1:50 pm

By Michelle Reddick | 09/25/2013

(Image: courtesy of the Art Gallery of Ontario)

David Bowie Is, which opens today at the AGO, celebrates Bowie’s evolving identity in fittingly over-the-top fashion. The exhibition spans two floors of the museum and is correspondingly massive in scope, comprising over 300 objects (all pulled from the tens of thousands of items in the British pop artist’s personal archive). It’s a pleasingly chaotic mix: school-age photos, Ziggy Stardust suits, beloved guitars and over-the-top set designs, plus concert footage and interview clips. As during the exhibit’s record-smashing run at London’s Victoria and Albert museum, every visitor gets a pair of headphones that plays songs and interview excerpts as you move though the exhibition. The result is an assemblage of film, art, costume, object and sound that encapsulates Bowie’s gift for reinvention. Here, a look at some of the highlights.