Mixtape 1980s

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of visiting the National Gallery of Victoria's Mixtape 1980s: Appropriation, Subculture and Critical Style exhibition at the Ian Potter Centre in Fed Square. It was an unexpectedly hot day, and I was not looking forward to being in a confined space for any extended period of time. Luckily the room was cool. In both senses of the word.
I approached the exhibition with trepidation, unsure of what to expect. The 80s is one of my favourite nostalgia decades but there are certainly some aspects that needed to be left in the past. But upon coming closer to the entrance I was met with a fantastic piece by Leigh Bowery called The Metropolitan (1988). I had only heard of Leigh Bowery once before in a theatre class a few weeks previously. My tutor had gone on a long tangent about Bowery whilst waiting for a VHS about the works of Chekhov to rewind. I guess I can thank the ancient technology at La Trobe for this introduction. I don't consider myself to be a rebellious person, simply because I've never had a need to be. I fiercely admire those who are, because I know how difficult it is to break the mould, having never had the courage to, myself. Bowery's interdisciplinary work, and the period in which he was creating it, perfectly encapsulates the concept of productive rebellion in my eyes.

'Infamous artist Leigh Bowery was a key figure in London's nightclub scene throughout the 1980s. As the host and public face of Taboo, London's most progressive and decadent club, Bowery blurred the boundaries between art, fashion and performance with his perverse 'looks', which radically challenged ideas of normality. Through a combination of masquerade, costume and burlesque endeavours Bowery ingeniously explored ideas about identity and gender' (NGV, 2013).

Given the current discourse about gender equality and same-sex rights, and how far we've come since his time, the recognition of trailblazers like Bowery is all-the-more significant. The description mentions Bowery's talent for blurring the boundaries between art, fashion and performance. This speaks to me a great deal as these are three disciplines that I have been interested in delving into in my life. While I haven't consolidated these desires as such yet, I believe it is really important for someone in my position to be familiar with Bowery's work; to be made aware of the fact that there's no limit to creativity; that if one was interested in several artistic areas that one doesn't have to confine oneself to a singular discipline for all time.
We have obviously discussed this extensively in class and in our readings; most notably when Dick Higgins summed it up so perfectly in his essay 'On Doing Too Much': 'it simply cannot be, if a person is drawn in several different directions, that he or she can say: No, I will repress all but one of them. The repression will explode later in people whose temperament militates against it' (1978, p104). But seeing the result of this 'rebellion' is something else entirely, and all-the-more inspiring.

Further on in the exhibition, this concept of multi-disciplinarity produced varied results. A short while into the exhibition, I came across several works by David McDiarmid, whose pieces attempted to redefine and deconstruct identities -- 'from camp to gay to queer' (NGV, 2013).

'Safe Sex Ball' (11/061988) // 'Sydney Gay Mardi Gras' (1986)

While it's great to see how far society has come to acceptance in almost three decades, a part of me is a bit disappointed that we were not at this point sooner. Ideology can sometimes take a lifetime to change or at least bend, so I guess it's better than having no progress at all.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see part of Tracey Moffatt's 'Something More' (1989) effectively hung up against a jet black wall.

'Something More # 8' (1989).

I haven't seen this work to scale since my school days, as I described here. It was just one (or rather, two, as Moffatt's film 'Night Cries' was also on display) in a string of work by Aboriginal artists that were displayed throughout the exhibition, such as that of the countless women's paintings of the Warlpiri community, the emergence of which has changed the face of Australian art; and Jarinyanu David Downs.
But the piece that caught my attention the most dramatically was Bonita Ely's truly interdisciplinary 1980 work 'Murray River punch'. 'Murray River punch' is a satirical 'cooking demonstration' that highlights the consequences of environmental degradation.

Bonia Ely concocting the 'Murray River punch' (1980).

Ely, one of Australia's most important feminist artists, assumed the role of a preternaturally cheerful cook demonstrating the recipe for a punch made from all of the pollutants that could be found in the Murray River at that time. Combining fertiliser, human urine and faeces, dried European carp, large quantities of salt, superphosphate, insecticide and chlorine with deoxygenated water, the toxic punch was prepared then offered to her 'guests' (NGV, 2013). The work was originally performed, then printed in 2008 (above) with the sound of the performance being played through the floor next to the images at the exhibition. Combining political elements, such as challenging the conventions of the female's place in the home and kitchen, as well as environmental degradation factors, all through an artistic medium, this is the kind of work that I can really get behind, as these are two issues which speak directly to where my mind is currently at right now.

I was absolutely starving by this point and needed a bite to eat before work, but I really was sad to leave. At the front entrance of the exhibition, classic 80s pop hits were playing (such as 'Our Lips Are Sealed' by The Go-Go's) which put me in the mood for a real 80s binge which I fully indulged in on the walk to work.
Suffice to say, I was not disappointed by my short afternoon foray into the multi-disciplinary art of the 1980s.





REFERENCES

Higgins, D 1978, A Dialectic of centuries: notes towards a theory of the new arts, Printed Editions, New York. 

National Gallery of Victoria, 2013 Mixtape 1980s: appropriation, subculture, critical style, work descriptions.