The Rolling Stones have been bluesing it up since the early 1960s and with their last single release, Doom And Gloom, having only been released in 2012 they’ve got an incredible record of being able to stay relevant no matter how old they get. However, it’s the sheer weight of their long history and influence over the music world that defines their achievements and this will be the focus of a Exhibitionism, a new Rolling Stones exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery next year, which is shaping up to be one of the must see events of 2016.
Set to start it up at the gallery in April 2016, the major exhibition is scheduled to run until September later in the year, taking up residence for the better part of six month to showcase the band’s crazy career in music over the years. It will span both floors of the Chelsea-based centre of art excellence as the life and times of Mick Jagger, Kieth Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts is laid out in detail taking us from their 1964 self-titled debut album through Beggars Banquet, Exile On Main Street and beyond.
Exhibitionism will be split into nine distinct galleries, each covering a different theme, bringing together more than 500 artifacts to create a new review of their star-studded career. The huge collection on show will include gig memorabilia, diary entries from the band mates and some of the rarer instruments that they played. There will also be a lot of the artwork that went in to creating the Rolling Stones’ visual style with posters, album covers, stage designs and the crazy costume they wore all on display.
The Saatchi Gallery will also be bringing the exhibition to life with a combination of audio and video installations, showing the band at their best, playing live on tour or making great music. At its simplest and most nostalgic is a number of rare audio tracks and video footage from the last fifty years, but at its most exhibitionist is a massive wrap-around cinema experience to immerse you directly into the sheer impact the band has had over it’s long and exceptional career.
In addition to artifacts that focus on the band and their exploits, it will pull in a number of their collaboration efforts with other artists to show the scale of their reach over the years. This will include work with Andy Warhol, Alexander McQueen, Martin Scorsese and Sir Tom Stoppard to name but a few, so you’re bound to find something completely knew and unexpected no matter how big a fan of the band you are.
While entry to the Saatchi Gallery is ordinarily free, the Exhibitionism exhibition will be one of the few paid exhibitions planned for the gallery in recent years. If you’ve ever been to a Rolling Stones gig in recent years, you’ll probably know that ticket prices are not cheap and the same is the case here with adult tickets setting you back £24. Tickets are already on sale to book on the Saatchi Gallery website.
