JIM SPENCE: V&A Dundee overhaul is an admission the original concept has failed |
Let’s hope Marlon Brando’s famous line from On the Waterfront – “I could’ve been a contender” – isn’t an epitaph for Dundee’s V&A museum.
“I could’ve been somebody,” was the boxing star’s follow-up in the classic Hollywood movie and it carries all the angst of someone who has missed a great opportunity in life and fears it’ll never return.
The V&A on Dundee’s waterfront launched in a blaze of publicity just eight years ago.
It was the great hope to be the city’s contender in a fight to re-establish our credentials as a place reborn and with a new vision for the future.
Now it needs millions spent on a major redesign.
Given it only opened its doors in 2018, it begs the question: has the museum squandered an opportunity which may never come around again?
A design museum in Dundee was always going to face stiff competition from far bigger cities and it was imperative that it came out of the corner quickly and got off to a flying start.
This........