Exhibition Review Punk’s 40th Anniversary—An Itchy Sort of Heritage
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12239676 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lisa Robinson (0000-0002-4597-7339, University of Sussex, corresponding author), Lucy Robinson (0009-0003-1605-9410, University of Sussex) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 309-317 |
| Publication date | 2017-08-09 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Twentieth Century British History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0955-2359 • E-ISSN: 1477-4674 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/tcbh/hwx047 |
| PMID | 29800337 |
| OpenAlex | W2750797210 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
2016 was the officially designated ‘40th anniversary of Punk’. Two national exhibitions, Punks at the Museum of London and Punk 1976-78 at the British Library (BL), ran as part of a wider festival, Punk London, alongside numerous smaller and regional events. Punk London also involved a series of intertwined exhibitions and events across London, to mark the 40th anniversary of the release of the Sex Pistols single Anarchy in the UK. The first punk record is usually identified as The Damned’s single New Rose. But perhaps the story of The Damned would not do such useful work as a way of mapping the birth, rise, sell out, and survival of punk. It says something about both punk and the heritage industry that the Sex Pistols’ once banned single is now the centre of London’s heritage and tourist marketing and, indeed, that the single’s anniversary warrants discussion in an academic historical journal. There is an ongoing uncomfortable relationship between punk, punks, and punk history. The discomfort around where punk should, or should not, be is at the heart of the punk story. As soon as Punk was visible, it was co-opted and criticized for ‘selling out’. In Dick Hebdige’s punk inspired study Subculture: The Meaning of Style, the Pistols, and their surrounding press coverage, signalled two forms of ‘incorporation’; both as a commodity and as an ideology.1 Furthermore, Punk values of ‘credibility’ and ‘authenticity’ invite an uncomfortable relationship between punks and their cultural representation. This discomfort has a lot to teach us however. Seeing yourself through press headlines, or curated in museums, can be a pretty uncomfortable, itchy, feeling
Art · Art history · Exhibition · Punk · sort · Visual arts · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Computer Science · Music History and Culture
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,67 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |