PLANET CHOCKO – art/music/movies/beyond » Spectacle: The Music Video exhibit

Spectacle: The Music Video exhibit

June 19th, 2013 by Mr. C

(I want my MTV! + YO MTV RAPS!)

I was lucky enough to catch the 2nd to last day of Spectacle: The Music Video exhibit on display at the Museum of The Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. We were up and about the Spectacle exhibit a few times during its installation run but of course movie screenings at the Moving Image like The Kick and lectures by Fab 5 Freddy had us focused on other things. I’m glad I spent some time at the Spectacle exhibit because it brought back a lot of memories while growing up watching some of these videos from the 80s & 90s. Music videos on channels like MTV and public TV shows like Video Music Box were partly responsible for introducing pop culture to a whole generation X of music fans! I apparently missed a few videos at the exhibit like Peter Gabriel’s ‘Sledgehammer’ and Missy Elliot’s influence in the “Body Language” room for the choreography excellence in her music videos but who can blame me with over 300 videos, artifacts, and interactive installations scattered all about! This Music Video exhibition celebrated the art and history of music videos from Aha’s “Take on Me” to David Bowie and Madonna to contemporary artists like Jay Z & Kanye West. Watching Radiohead’s 2008 “House of Cards” video was also a trip and a half! Apparently, House of Cards was the first music video that did not use cameras but instead used lasers and scanners to render 3D images. Laying eyes on Bjork’s “Wanderlust” video was also an experience in itself. The story, costumes, creatures, and demons in that video rendered in CGI, special effects, and 3D – lent to some pretty wild images! The exhibit also had a nice display for the groundbreaking AHA video “Take on Me”. The video featured pencil sketched animations forming a live action image.

(Radiohead’s “House of Cards” video)

(Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” video)

(A yarn bombed media room on display at Spectacle Exhibit!)

(Agent Provocateur installation at Spectacle Exhibit)

One of my favorite installations from the exhibit was ‘Agent Provocateur’. This fun setup consisted of a row of peep-hole stations supplied with headphones on each stall. Each station featured a music video to be watched by peeking in the peep-hole and listened by putting the headphones on. Videos on display included N.W.A.’s “Straight outta Compton”, Madonna’s “Justify my love” & “Like a prayer”, M.I.A.’s “Born Free”, Public Enemy’s “By the time I get to Arizona”, and Tyler the Creator’s “Yonkers” to just name a few. The Agent Provocateur theme as stated by them:

Music Videos have always pushed boundaries, prompted controversy, titillated, and helped accelerate social change. These videos address themes such as Racism, Sexism, Sexual Orientation, Poverty, and Alienation, due to their adult frankness or just plain raunchiness. They were shown, if at all, late a night and accompanied by advisory warnings.

(Public Enemy’s “By the Time I get to Arizona” video)

(Ducksauce’s “Big Bad Wolf” video)

(Agent Provocateur installation at Spectacle Exhibit)

Spectacle: The Music Video is organized by the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati and curated by Jonathan Wells and Meg Grey Wells of Flux. Exhibition design by Logan. The exhibition at Museum of the Moving Image is presented in partnership with Sonos and VEVO.

(N.W.A.’s “Straight outta Compton” video)