The Villa de Medici in Rome, home to the prestigious French Academy, hosts an exhibition titled “Europunk, Visual Punk Culture in Europe from 1976-1980″.
The aim of the exhibition, according to the Academy’s director, Eric de Chassey, is to show how the punk movement over the years has continued to have a strong influence on visual arts and fashion.
Punk music started in the 1970s, especially in the United Kingdom and in the United States and soon became popular in alternative circles in the rest of Europe.
There are around 500 items to be seen, including posters, T-shirts, flyers and fanzines, in short all the usual counter-culture paraphernalia. Many of these are on loan from museums and private collections all over Europe.
Sex Pistols Sleeve Art
Though the exhibition focuses on visual art, it is opened by a video of the Sex Pistols’ first appearance on television. The Sex Pistols feature heavily in the exhibition anyway, since British artist Jamie Reid’s “God Save The Queen” design for a Sex Pistols single, and Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s “Destroy Shirt”, made famous by the band, can also be seen.
The French punk-art group Bazooka have an entire room to themselves and the exhibition is closed by a BBC television appearance of the English band Joy Division (who are generally regarded to be part of the post-punk movement).
The show will run until March 20, 2011 and will then move to the Mamco Museum of Modern Art in Geneva from June 8 to September 18.
