I enjoyed the packed opening night of the rave exhibition, Sweet Harmony, at the Saatchi Gallery in London. It was a chance to see friends old and new, but also a celebration of the creativity of British youth culture.
More than just a nostalgic look at the acid house and rave explosion, the show highlights club culture’s pivotal role in social change. At the end of the 1980s, rave inspired many of us to make beautiful things. Friendships, parties, T-shirts, flyers, a new fashion aesthetic, art, books, photography, films.. When I was editor of The Face, it was a constant inspiration. So I’m proud to play a small part in this show now, writing a piece for the catalogue, and supplying quotes to display on the walls.
Highlights for me included a room full of photographs by my old friend and frequent clubbing partner David Swindells. Conrad Shawcross’s spinning car, suspended from the ceiling of another room. Adrian Fisk’s pictures of the recent Extinction Rebellion occupation of central London (which often looked the best party in town). The Punchdrunk room, where you crawl in via a gap in a chain-link fence, and find yourself in a dark, eerily deserted service station. And Vinca Peterson’s room, with its bouncy castle and her life on the dancefloor recorded in pictures, flyers, hilarious diary entries all over one wall.
If you are interested, you can also read my feature on it for The Face here.
What do you think?