A Million Keys

1990s

I spent yesterday afternoon doing a project for an art show about the influence of music in the 1990s and how it shaped my generation. I decided to make t-shirts using youtube footage of bands from the ’90s that were paramount for me- ones I would’ve liked to see live and, in some cases, did see live. My thought was to create mementos for these past events using the material and the format- youtube- available to us now. I placed the images on old thrift store shirts- many of them ringer and baseball tees- which recall the sort of shirts I use to buy at shows or make myself at the time. I know the show and my project are meant to be a playful reflection on my generation’s teenage years. However, the process also made me think about the politics which dominated that era of my life- specifically riot grrrl- and I remembered how real and imminent revolutionary change seemed to me at the time. Perhaps I’m out of touch, but I don’t feel that there’s a cultural phenomenon with that sort of presence now. Which is sad- because community and feminist awareness remain extremely relevant and especially so for teen girls. Spending a few hours yesterday watching videos and interviews of Sleater Kinney, Excuse 17, Bikini Kill, and Heavens to Betsy- and combing this archive of flyers and stickers- reminded me that riot grrrl was the punk rock of the 1990s. Except it was way cooler and smarter. All of my girlfriends who were involved have now gone on to do incredible things- evidence that the movement was a critical one.

That said.

A banner ad for Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 campaign appeared on all the youtube pages I captured yesterday:

Originally, I thought to crop the ads out and focus just on the concert footage. I decided to keep them- as a reminder of where we are now- post 9/11 rhetoric, the war in Iraq, and the upcoming elections. Where is our generation now? What happened? How did things get so fucked?

I think a lot of people in my age range are asking the same questions. And the few art shows this summer focused on the ‘90s- Let’s Bolt (discussed above), My Own Private Reality or Values (information below)- are all an attempt to take stock of our teen years in the ‘90s and the various cultural factors (emergence of the internet and online communities, riot grrrl, D.I.Y., grunge, etc.) which formed our experience.

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If you’re around Sunday afternoon – come to Art in General in Tribeca. Anthony Marcellini and Josh Kline have put together a one-day video show of works exploring the influence of 1990s underground music scenes and their values… The show will be up from 4-8pm, there will be free beer, air conditioning, and videos by the following artists:

Alex Bag
Sadie Benning
Slater Bradley
Martha Colburn
Forcefield
Devin Flynn
Klara Liden
Anne McGuire
Stephen G. Rhodes
Pepo Salazar
Ryan Trecartin
Yacht (Yona Bechtolt)

Also, there will be some bootleg footage on some monitors for you to look at of the following bands playing live back in the day: Bikini Kill, Nation of Ulysses, the Boredoms, Underground Resistance, Fugazi, Huggy Bear, Los Crudos, etc. I’m sure you can see where this is going! 1992 was 15 years ago!

  • SUNDAY JULY 22
  • 4 – 8 pm
  • Art in General’s 9th Annual Video Marathon: VALUES
  • 79 Walker Street, 6th Floor
  • Between Broadway and Lafayette – just below Canal
  • A,C,E to Canal / 4,5,6,J,M,Z,N,R,Etc. To Canal
  • Map: http://www.artingeneral.org/aig/General/Visit/Visit.htm