The V&A will definitely be coming to Dundee even if Scotland votes for independence.
The pledge was given yesterday by Martin Roth, director of the world famous London gallery of art and design in London.
Speaking during a behind-the-scenes tour of the extensive Kensington establishment to view the type of objects that visitors might expect to see in the £45 million V&A in Dundee, Mr Roth said he would not be drawn into the political debate on Scotland’s future.
“All I am saying is that the possibility of separation makes no difference to us. We are coming to Dundee,” he stated, dampening any lingering thought that the project on which the hopes of Dundee’s £1 billion waterfront project are pinned may be jeopardised if Scotland leaves the UK.
Mr Roth said he was greatly looking forward to the building of the V&A Museum of Design which is scheduled to open in 2017.
It will be unlike any other museum in Scotland by focusing on design for its everyday impact how the imaginative design of seemingly ordinary objects can inspire and delight.
He chose not to call it the “jewel in the crown” of Dundee’s waterfront, saying it was one of a number of elements of the ambitious development.
“There are other very good things happening in Dundee and the V&A is not alone,” he said.
“I would rather call it part of a necklace of jewels rather than the jewel.”
Mr Roth was acccompanied by Philip Long, director of the V&A in Dundee, in a preview visit to the Constable: The Making of a Master exhibition for guests to see how a major display is brought together.
Mr Long said Dundee can expect to be on the itinerary for many of the V&A’s major touring exhibitions.
Many of the objects will be from the V&A’s own extensive collection of Scottish-linked items and other material will be loaned by collectors “who are attracted by the prestige of being part of a V&A exhibition”.
The Dundee gallery, designed by Kengo Kuma, will be the largest standing exhibition space in Scotland, and he said full use will be made of its scale and versatility.
“We plan to have a major exhibition across the summer months, perhaps of a status of our recent one on David Bowie,” he explained.
“Across the other seasons we will display exhibitions on more specialised subjects to allow people to engage in design and in the extraordinary ideas that design generates.”