The V&A East collection is a treasure trove of inspiration, but it's not without its pitfalls. While the museum's desire to engage with the diverse communities of east London is commendable, there's a risk of falling into the trap of algorithmic thinking, where the museum second-guesses its audience's desires and guides them towards predictable preferences. However, the collection is a delightful surprise, offering a rich and heterogenous vision of how people make and cultures meet. The first gallery, in particular, is a delight, showcasing a zinging constructivist rug by Eileen Gray, costumes by Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo, and Althea McNish's glorious printed fabrics, which show how a designer working within the infrastructures of mass production can have a profound influence on the look of postwar Britain. The museum's commitment to exploring themes such as colonial expansion and imperial violence, as well as its focus on the place where objects were produced, is admirable. The V&A East collection is a toolbox or kitty, a shared fund of precedents and models that aspiring artists and designers are invited to raid. The inaugural temporary exhibition, 'The Music Is Black: A British Story', is a testament to the museum's ability to tell a story pertinent to its own colonial history through the culture that emerged from and contests it. The combination of powerful music with contextualising information produces the complexity that only comes when the senses and the intellect are forced to operate at the same time, and cannot find alignment. However, the exhibition's vast ambition inevitably leads to a superficial exploration of the manifold musical cultures that emerged from the violent displacement of African people by the slave trade. Nevertheless, the V&A East collection is a dazzling wealth of inspiration, offering a unique perspective on the past and a powerful tool for those who want to change the future.
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