Here’s why the new V&A East Museum deserves a place at the top of your summer list.

After more than a decade in the making, the V&A East Museum threw open its doors in Stratford on 18 April 2026, completing the V&A’s ambitious East London chapter. Housed in a striking, sculptural building by architects O’Donnell + Tuomey, the free museum sits in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as a legacy of the 2012 Games — and is built squarely around the theme of making and creativity as forces for social change.

At its heart are the two “Why We Make” galleries, displaying more than 500 objects spanning global art, fashion, design and performance, where Molly Goddard gowns and Leigh Bowery costumes sit alongside Italian Renaissance pieces. It joins its sister site, the acclaimed V&A East Storehouse — already a TIME World’s Greatest Place for letting visitors “order an object” from the archive and home to the David Bowie Centre. Together, they make a compelling case that London’s cultural centre of gravity is shifting east.

Three to catch right now

THE MUSIC IS BLACK: A BRITISH STORY

The museum’s inaugural landmark exhibition traces British culture through Black British music from 1900 to the present, with personal objects from Little Simz, JME and Joan Armatrading, plus standout photography from Jennie Baptiste, Eddie Otchere and Dennis Morris. It’s the headline ticket and the clearest statement of what this museum stands for. Until 3 January 2027.

Towards a Civic Museum, Tania Bruguera

A free display from the Cuban artist and activist, probing what a museum owes its community — a fitting provocation for an institution built on co-creation with local young people. Until 18 October 2026.

HEARD, Rene Matić

The British artist’s free display brings a tender, deeply personal lens to identity and belonging, exactly the kind of contemporary voice the East Museum was designed to platform. Until 18 October 2026.

Plan your visit at vam.ac.uk/east
107 Carpenters Rd, Stratford Cross, London E20 2AR