110916 – Revolution – V&A, London SW7

You Say You Want A Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-70.

The world goes Pop! Popular culture dominates this exhibition with far too much emphasis put on to pop music and the icons of the era as if they were heroic leaders of The Revolution. The exhibition is a crowd pleaser rammed with the over sixties complete with their ‘I was there’ smiles. Consumerism exploded into the new world and the throwaway culture that still exists today was heavily sold. Advertising and business were quick to recognise the market potential of popular culture and those of the Paris riots, Carnaby Street photo shoots or the crowds at Woodstock were swept up in the frenzy. People were sold what they wanted to be told and this in turn helped change the old order. The World Wars helped break the Edwardian hierarchies of class, society and business and the 1960’s offered a possible new direction. With radio and TV now widely available giving young people access to trends and information enabling the popular to become even more popular.

The 1960’s was a volatile decade of bi-polar excess. Mistrust amongst governments, The Prague Spring, The Vietnam War, The Space Race, segregation, with extremes of philosophy. Industry cranked up to sell anything anyway it could no matter what the consequences nepalm, DDT, Contergan. But each of these events had a counterpoint, The Sacred Spring, The Peace and Love movements, The US Civil Rights Act of 1964. What is key to all aspects of the 1960’s is that it has been documented, rationalised, examined and re-examined throughout the decades that followed and as such it has given mankind ample text to re-evaluate himself. One of the strongest images from the lunar landing was not that of the moon but of the earth from space. It was the first time that we saw just how unique and precious our planet is. The 1960’s was a catalyst for the on-going discussions on environment, gender, politics, apartheid, capitalism and protectionism these became the educational doctrines for the next two generations.

This is a large exhibition and on the day we viewed far too busy to access the small print. The exhibition continues through to the end of February 2017 so there is time for a re-visit when the through traffic has diminished.

Images from left to right

Moon Landing 1969, Paris Riots 1968, Segregation Memphis 1968, Vietnam War 1968, Carnaby St, Swinging 60s, Woodstock. Earth. 

The Surrogate Twin