Europunk at the Cité de la Musique

The French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici presented in 2011 Europunk, la culture visuelle punk en Europe , 1976-1980 , in collaboration with the MAMCO (Genève). The exhibition was curated by Éric de Chassey with Fabrice Stroun. Dedicated to the origins of the punk movement, it was shown also at MAMCO (Genève, Switzerland) and at BPS22 (Charleroi, Belgium). The exhibition is now displayed at the Museum of the Cité de la Musique in Paris from 15 October 2013 to 19 January 2014 , in a version enriched by new important elements and a specific focus on the music section. This exhibition is curated by Éric de Chassey in collaboration with David Sanson, fellow at Villa Medici. Born of the cold ashes of May 68, in a context of economic crisis and bankruptcy of ideologies, punk was a paradoxical yet fundamental movement. Revolution without cause, ambiguous, chaotic and dramatic, making systematic use of provocation and second degree, punk advocated no future while offering everyone to change the world. The Europunk exhibition at the Museum of the Cité de la Musique aims to show the result of this creative fermentation which, between 1976 and 1980, along with what was happening in the United States, stirred the UK first, and then the entire European continent. In total, more than 450 objects (clothes, fanzines, posters, flyers, drawings and collages, record sleeves, movies, etc.), from private and public collections, along with numerous audio and video recordings, will show the vitality and liberty of expression that made punk, in spite of itself, a true artistic revolution. Divided into six parts, the artists will be presented chronologically in a political and cultural context, while a listening room with a wall of speakers will help feel, through image and sound, all the innovative energy of this artistic revolution.