bove all, David Bowie’s long
and influential career as a
songwriter, performer and
fashion icon has been
defined by constant rein-
vention and innovation.
So it is fitting that when the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in
Chicago, Illinois, USA staged “David Bowie Is,” the first international
exhibition devoted to Bowie, the project team had to reinvent its
approach to meet a slew of challenges. It was the most complex, high-
profile and expensive show in the museum’s nearly half-century history.
“‘David Bowie Is’ presented new challenges,” says Erika Hanner,
MCA’s former director of convergent programming, who served as the
exhibition’s co-project manager. “We’d never moved this many people
through the space day after day. We’d never had a separately ticketed
exhibition. We’d never extended museum hours for an exhibition.”
The MCA team determined that to fully realize the benefits of the
US$2 million project, the museum would need to sell about 150,000
tickets during its less than four-month run—more than half of its annual
average of visitors. In other words, success hinged on seeing beyond the
exhibit’s opening day. To avoid a high-profile failure, the team had to
put in place metrics to track the benefits realization of “David Bowie Is.”
Building Team Bowie
In August 2013, the MCA announced that in September 2014 it would
become the only U.S. venue to stage the first retrospective of Bowie’s
career. (The show originated at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum
in London, England, Bowie’s hometown.) “Thirteen months isn’t a long
time,” Ms. Hanner says, “so it made us work really efficiently. There was
no time to waste.”
She identified three main challenges: managing a very large budget,
To help sell the exhibition to the public and to funders, Ms.
