V&A East Director Gus Casely-Hayford in conversation with Bill Sherman (Warburg Institute Director) and Gregory Perry (CEO, Association for Art History).

The highly anticipated V&A East Storehouse opened on 31 May 2025. A world first in size and scale, V&A East Storehouse houses over half a million objects from every creative discipline. This purpose-built public space offers unprecedented access to V&A collections, enabling audiences to go behind-the-scenes to make new discoveries, explore untold stories and share ideas. Highlights include the Order an Object experience, community co-produced projects, pop-up displays, creative workshops, performances and screenings as well as the chance to see conservators at work.

Director of V&A East, Gus Casely-Hayford, discusses the concept for the new facility, its realisation, intended audiences, and the curatorial considerations that contributed to the project: object selection, display methods, access, and the functioning of the facility for its local, public audiences as well as for researchers visiting from further afield.

Curatorial Conversations, in collaboration with the Association for Art History, invites museum directors and curators of recent exhibitions and installations at world-leading museums and galleries to discuss their work. The conversations, led by Bill Sherman (Warburg Institute) and Gregory Perry (Association for Art History), discuss the issues of setting the directorial or curatorial agenda and staging meaningful encounters with objects. The series is designed to draw out discussion of the discoveries made, challenges tackled and the lessons learned in heading a collection, presenting important permanent collections and putting together internationally renowned exhibitions.

This talk took place on 19 May 2025.