ART-PRESENTATION: The 1980s Today’s Beginnings?
The Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven established in 1936 is one of the first public museums for contemporary art to be established in Europe. Celebrating its 80th anniversary the Museum presents the echibition “The 1980s Today’s Beginnings?” exploring the ‘80s from six European perspectives, examining the relevance of this transformative decade for today.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Van Abbemuseum Archive
The exhibition “The 1980s. Today’s Beginnings?” takes the form of a collaborative project that comprises a diverse mix of artworks, music, TV, graphic and archival material, exploring a wide set of socio-political themes through the lens of culture. The exhibition focuses on the cultural production that took place against the mainstream, examining its role in moments of state structures in transformation. From 2/7/16 three new presentations will be added. Culture was central in responding to or predicting deep societal shifts. As Europe is in the midst of a defining transition in terms of how it sees itself and its relationship to others, it is urgent to examine key moments in identity formation and self-organisation from the recent past. Highlighting the reorientation between civil society and the state during the decade, this exhibition aims to gives space to multiple narratives and voices from different European perspectives, beginning with counter culture in the Netherlands, the Slovenian collective NSK and black art from Great Britain. The presentations of the exhibition are: Talking Back. Counter Culture in the Netherlands, that examines Dutch counter culture in the “80s through the squatters’ movement and its cultural spin-offs in artists initiatives with alternative attitudes to the art world. A group of artists increasingly employed video, sound and photography to subvert mass media’s ‘manipulative’ patterns of representation. Other countercultural movements looked at the position of women and their role in these alternative networks and activist groups. Though radical at their inception, the unfolding of these microhistories also reveals the shift from an open-minded society to a more individual, closed society. Thinking Back. A montage of Black Art in Britain, in ‘80s Britain a powerful conversation emerged amongst black artists, filmmakers, thinkers and institutions. It was the outcome of artists trying to understand their relationship towards Britain’s colonial legacy, an increasingly divisive contemporary politics and the use of culture as a space from which ideas of resistance, expression and identity formation could coalesce. this sector present a number of key artworks, films and archival material from this pivotal moment in British culture outside the country for the first time. NSK: From Kapital to Capital. An Event in the Final Decade of Yugoslavia, the presentation follows events of the different Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) collectives, with a focus on: the multimedia group Laibach (est. 1980), the visual arts group IRWIN (est. 1983), and the theatre group Scipion Nasice Sisters (1983-87). NSK is often associated exclusively with the context of failing Yugoslavia and socialism. This research highlights the power of the collective’s artistic faculty and its fundamental goal: to construct a new artistic constellation that would allow them to propose a different society and to enter an international dialogue.
Info: Curators: Diana Franssen, Nick Aikens & Zdenka Badovinac, Van Abbemuseum, Bilderdijklaan 10, Eindhoven, Duration: “Talking Back” & “Thinking Back”: 16/4-24/9/16, “NSK”: 16/4-26/6/16, Days &Hours: Tue-Wed & Fri-Sun 11:00-17:00, Thu 11:00-21:00, http://vanabbemuseum.nl
