V&A Dundee opens to the world

The ambitious international exhibition programme opens with Ocean Liners: Speed and Style, organised by the V&A and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, the first exhibition to explore the design and cultural impact of the ocean liner on an international scale. Major exhibitions are complemented by new commissions and installations including This, looped by Glasgow-based artist and former Turner prize nominee Ciara Phillips.

Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee, said: "The opening of V&A Dundee is a historic occasion for Dundee, for the V&A, and for the very many people who played a vital part and supported its realisation. This is a very proud moment for all involved.

"V&A Dundee's aspiration is to enrich lives, helping people to enjoy, be inspired by and find new opportunities through understanding the designed world. After years of planning, we are thrilled at being able to celebrate the realisation of the first V&A museum in the world outside London.

"The museum's light-filled wooden interior and impressive spaces inside have been designed to provide a warm welcome to visitors, described by architect Kengo Kuma as a 'living room for the city'. We are all very excited indeed that we can now welcome everybody into this remarkable new museum."

Kengo Kuma, architect of V&A Dundee, said: "The big idea for V&A Dundee was bringing together nature and architecture, to create a new living room for the city. I'm truly in love with the Scottish landscape and nature. I was inspired by the cliffs of north-eastern Scotland – it's as if the earth and water had a long conversation and finally created this stunning shape.

"It is also fitting that the restored Oak Room by Charles Rennie Mackintosh is at the heart of this building as I have greatly admired his designs since I was a student. In the Oak Room, people will feel his sensibility and respect for nature, and hopefully connect it with our design for V&A Dundee.

"I hope the museum can change the city and become its centre of gravity. I am delighted and proud that this is my first building in the UK and that people will visit it from around the world."

The delivery of V&A Dundee has been overseen by the innovative founding partnership of the V&A, Dundee City Council, the University of Dundee, Abertay University and Scottish Enterprise. The ￡80.11m project was funded by the Scottish Government, The National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Creative Scotland, Dundee City Council, the UK Government, Scottish Enterprise, University of Dundee, Abertay University and a successful private fundraising campaign which is now complete.

VisitScotland Chief Executive Malcolm Roughead said: "The opening of V&A Dundee is a momentous occasion, the start of an unmissable new chapter in Scottish tourism. The arrival of such a highly-regarded attraction represents a truly unique opportunity to take the region, and the country as whole, from a good, to a great visitor destination, showcasing our cultural offering to a global audience.