Exhibition: Energy Flash – The Rave Movement
M HKA, Antwerpen
17 June 2016 - 25 September 2016
©Photo: M HKA
Rave culture from the 1980s and 1990s was Europe’s last big youth movement. During this period of radical social and political change, rave, in its various guises, migrated around the continent from its epicentre of Great Britain, Belgium and Germany. As a movement, it enacted a desire to be autonomous, with a belief in tolerance and experimental living, all built around the latent energy of electronic music. As a music-based culture, it embraced self-practice, invention and unbridled creativity, arguably leading to the densest period in history for the diversification of music. Energy Flash will be the first museum exhibition for considering rave, as well as the social, political, economic and technological conditions that led to the advent of rave as an alternative movement across Europe. It will look at the ideologies as well as the aesthetics of rave, along with its effects on wider culture.
For many who felt failed by both the market and the state, raves opened up a third kind of space, which formed its own logic based on the collective. Regularly drawing many thousands of participants, raves themselves have been theorised as ‘temporary autonomous zones’ – spontaneously organised concentrations of people and musical energy that eluded formal structures of control. Though embodying both dystopian and utopian impulses, raves possessed some extraordinary qualities, transgressing race and class. Utilising the emergent technologies of the day, the music itself possessed a distinct new aesthetic that redrew the boundaries of music. Each locale developed its own rave culture, evolving countless forms of acid house, techno, hardcore, jungle and beyond. In a situation of moral panic, governments in Western Europe legislated to criminalise rave culture from the mid-1990s onwards.
Energy Flash will look at rave as a highly politicised phenomenon, considering it through the key notions of ‘autonomy’, ‘civil liberty’, ‘technology’ and ‘creativity’. As an interdisciplinary project, it will display the works of numerous visual artists in dialogue with many artefacts from the fields of design, music and fashion, along with items selected from various archives, television documentary, literature and criminal legislature. In bringing together this diversity of material, this exhibition will argue that rave culture was inhibited due to its ambiguous place outside of neoliberal ideology, existing largely autonomous of both market and the state forces. This condition makes it a key case study for those wishing to imagine alternative forms of infrastructure for art and culture.
Energy Flash includes a substantial programme of events by artists and musicians taking place over the summer.
The exhibition is curated by Nav Haq, Senior Curator at M HKA.
Artists: Jacques André, Irene de Andrés, Cory Arcangel, George Barber, Jef Cornelis, Jeremy Deller, Denicolai & Provoost, Rineke Dijkstra, Aleksandra Domanović, Andreas Gursky, Dan Halter, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Ann Veronica Janssens, Martin Kersels, Mark Leckey, Daniel Pflumm, Matt Stokes, Sergey Shutov, The Otolith Group, Walter Van Beirendonck
WorksShow artists
> Kraftwerk's first American tour footage, 1975. Video, 8mm film, 00:21:48.
> Roland TR-808, 1980. Object.
> New Order – Prime 5 8 6, 1982. Video, 00:06:45.
> Roland TB-303, 1982-1984. Object.
> New Order – Blue Monday , 1983. Audio and visual equipment, 12" vinyl, 00:14:48.
> Hakim Bey – CHAOS (The Broadsheets of Ontological Anarchism), 1985. Book, paper.
> The Jams – 1987, 1987. Audio and visual equipment, 00:40:56.
> World in Action: A Trip Around Acid House, 1988. Video, 00:26:50.
> "Welcome to Acid House", 1988. Article.
> The Timelords – The Manual (How to Have a Number One The Easy Way), 1988. Audio and visual equipment.
> The KLF – The White Room, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1988. Audio and visual equipment, 01:09:34.
> Stakker – Eurotechno, 1989. Video, 00:26:23.
> Psychic TV – Wicked, 1989. Video, 00:06:40.
> Walter Van Beirendonck, Special Issue, KING KONG KOOKS, 1989. Book.
> Walter Van Beirendonck, Hard Beat by Real Man, 1989. Audio and visual equipment.
> i-D, no. 69 (May 1989), 1989. Periodical, paper.
> Trevor Miller – Trip City, 1989. Audio and visual equipment, paper.
> Walter Van Beirendonck, Silhouettes from the Hard Beat collection, 1989-1990. Other, Dimensions variable .
> Walter Van Beirendonck, FASHION IS DEAD! (Summer 1990), 1990. Leaflet.
> i-D, no. 99 (December 1991), 1991. Periodical, paper.
> Hakim Bey – T.A.Z. The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism, 1991. Book, paper.
> i-D, no. 110 (November 1992), 1992. Periodical.
> Telefacts: Made in Belgium, 1992. Video, 00:45:23.
> Jaydee – Plastic Dreams, 1992. Video, 00:03:06.
> Sergey Shutov , Ravelution, 1992. Video, video, 00:60:00.
> Daniel Pflumm, Daniel Pflumm – Elektro, 1992. Mixed Media, metal and plexiglas lightbox , 149 x 100 x 25 cm .
> i-D, no. 114 (March 1993), 1993. Periodical.
> Panorama: Nog niet naar House, 1993. Video, 00:20:23.
> Aphex Twin – On, 1993. Video, 00:04:30.
> i-D, no. 119 (August 1993), 1993. Periodical, paper.
> i-D no. 117 (June 1993), 1993. Periodical, paper.
> i-D, no. 115 (April 1993), 1993. Periodical, paper.
> The KLF – 1994 K. FOUNDATION AWARD, 1993. Article, paper.
> The KLF – ABANDON ALL ART NOW, 1993. Other.
> The Red Army Choir – K CERA CERA (War Is over If You Want it), 1993. Audio and visual equipment, compact disc, 00:04:33.
> Daniel Pflumm, Panasonic, 1993. Mixed Media, metal and plexiglas lightbox , 60 x 80 x 10 cm.
> Daniel Pflumm, Daniel Pflumm – Hallo TV, 1993. Mixed Media, metal and plexiglas lightbox , 60 x 30 x 15 cm .
> Various Artists – (Motion), 1994. Video, 00:43:26.
> Ptuch issue #1, 1994. Periodical.
> Hakim Bey – T.A.Z. De Tijdelijke Autonome Zone, 1994. Book, paper.
> Irvine Welsh – The Acid House, 1994. Book.
> Martin Kersels , Brown Sound Kit, 1994. Installation, speaker, amplifier, equalizer, oscillator, fiberglass, carrying case, wood , 85 x 60 x 82 cm.
> George Barber , Video High, 1994. Video, dvd, digitbeta tape, sd digital file , 00:51:00.
> Ptuch issue #4, 1995. Periodical.
> Ptuch issue #3, 1995. Periodical.
> Ptuch issue #2, 1995. Periodical.
No image
> Andreas Gursky , Union Rave, 1995. Photography, c-print , 164 x 275 cm.
> Jeremy Deller, Do You Remember the First Time?, 1995. Poster, silkscreen on paper , 71 x 51 cm .
> i-D no. 156 (September 1996), 1996. Periodical, paper.
> i-D, no. 151 (April 1996), 1996. Periodical, paper.
> Irvine Welsh – Ecstasy, 1996. Book, paper.
> Henrik Plenge Jakobsen , Everything is Wrong, 1996. Painting, acrylic paint, variable dimensions.
> Rineke Dijkstra, The Buzzclub, Liverpool, UK/Mysteryworld, Zaandam, NL, 1996-1997. Installation, two-channel video installation, loop with stereo sound , 00:26:28.
> Jeremy Deller, Jeremy Deller presents Acid Brass, 1997. Audio and visual equipment.
> PIRATSKE UTOPIJE in Začasno Avtonomna Cona, 1997. Article.
> Henrik Plenge Jakobsen , Terminator, 1997. Painting, acrylic paint, variable dimensions.
> Jeremy Deller, The History of the World , 1997-2004. Painting, acrylic paint on wall , Dimensions variable .
> Jef Cornelis, De Kleuren van de Geest (The Colours of the Mind), 1997. Article, digital betacam , 00:42:39.
> Mark Leckey, Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore , 1999. Video, dvd, 00:14:30.
> Ann Veronica Janssens, Untitled, 2002. Installation, 2000-watt follow spot, artificial mist, Dimensions variable .
> Matt Stokes , Real Arcadia, 2003-2016. Installation, mdf and glass vitrines, original flyers, posters, audio cassette tapes, t-shirts, ..., Dimensions variable .
> Dan Halter , Untitled (The Zimbabwean Queen of Rave) , 2005. Video, 00:03:32.
> Simona Denicolai & Ivo Provoost , Nothing , 2005. Installation, vinyl lp and video , 00:16:43.
> Simona Denicolai & Ivo Provoost , Teksid/Acid , 2006. Other, vinyl lp .
> Matt Stokes , MASS, 2009-2016. Installation, found and fabricated loudspeaker cabinets (ply, chipboard, vinyl covering, speaker drivers, paint, varnish, speaker cabinet components), 545 x 2,7 x 65 cm.
> The Otolith Group, Hydra Decapita , 2010. Video, hd video, colour, stereo, 00:31:00.
> Aleksandra Domanović, 19:30, 2010-2011. Video, hd video, colour, sound , 00:11:00.
> Cory Arcangel, AUDMCRS, 2011-2012. Installation, collection of recorded sound, 2011-12, 839 trance lps and corresponding catalogue in machine readable cataloguing standard database, Dimensions variable .
> Irene de Andrés, HEAVEN. Where nothing happens, 2015. Photography, 26 x 19.5 cm (x 6).
> RAVE: Rave and its Influence on Art and Culture, 2016. Book, ink, paper, 24.6 x 18.7 cm, 271 p., language : English, publisher : M HKA Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen & Black Dog Publishing, London, ISBN : 978-1-910433-87-4.
> Irene de Andrés, Donde nada ocurre (Where Nothing Happens), 2016. Video, singel channel hd video , 00:13:00.
> Jacques André, James Brown is Dead (ARTERS* No. 148), 2016. Installation, vinyl records, blue unemployment slips, paint , Dimensions variable .
> A small selection of rave flyers from Belgium. Other.
> The letter “E” from façade sign of the Energiehal, Rotterdam. Object.