The Divas & Icons travelling exhibition from London opens in the House of Music Hungary

2024/05/17 Actualities

The Divas & Icons exhibition will first arrive to Budapest from the world's largest museum of applied arts and design, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, and then begin its journey around the world. The travelling exhibition was always sold out at the original venue and attracted nearly 300,000 visitors from all over the world. The exhibition, which can be visited in the House of Music from 18 May all summer, dazzles the Hungarian audience with its stunning visuals, thoughtful and exciting dramaturgy, while providing a social historical period of the world of female performers from the 19th century to the present day.

Pop music world stars, movie stars, opera divas – through the original performance clothes, costumes, props, posters, video and audio recordings of more than a hundred international and Hungarian performers, the story of divas comes to life in the new exhibition of the House of Music Hungary, which can be visited from 18 May to 15 September. In addition to Rihanna, Björk, Billie Eilish, Tina Turner, Cher, Marilyn Monroe, Beyoncé, Sade, Janelle Monáe, Whitney Houston, Maria Callas, Edith Piaf, also Lujza Blaha, Katalin Karády, Zsuzsa Cserháti, Magdi Rúzsa and many others will be featured in the Divas & Icons exhibition opening now.

The first part of the exhibition places the creation of the diva in a historical context from the 19th century, reveals the goddesses of the stage and screen: we can get to know the first opera divas, the early prima donnas, the dancers who liberated the human body – Josephine Baker, Gabriella Lakatos – or the personal stories of Hollywood divas – Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Zsazsa Gábor – and through them we can delve into the changes related to femininity, in the struggle for women's rights.

The second act celebrates the modern diva, a select star of the diva galaxy, based on six different perspectives. Revolutionary performers who, with their art, voice and identity, serve the change and development of society. The iconic sets of Tina Turner, P!nk and Cher, designed by star designer Bob Mackie, can be seen, but the exhibition also features the costumes of Billie Eilish, Rihanna, Adele, Björk, Whitney Houston and many others familiar from concerts, awards ceremonies, clips, album covers and famous photos.

The exhibition delves into the lives of the featured world stars, but through them it also introduces the diva phenomenon: we can understand how the social perception of female performers has changed over the past 150 years, how equality movements started, and how the role of women in the performing arts has evolved.

In addition to prominent female performers, there are also some emblematic, adored and sometimes even deified male stars who, in addition to becoming icons, were influenced by the world of divas. In this section of the exhibition you can see Freddie Mercury's dress, which he wore at his famous concert in Budapest in '86, but also Elton John's costume decorated with semi-precious stones, Prince's iconic shoes, and János Kóbor and Ferenc Demjen, who are connected to diva with their extravagant stage presence.

Read more about the exhibition: Divas & Icons 2024-05-18 10:00 (zenehaza.hu)