Between Amsterdam and New York: Different ideas about punk art in the year 1979

What is it about?

The article is about how different artists viewed punk and punk art at the time (late 1970s) - how popular should it be, or how provoking? Was it about having fun and creating cool material and cool art, or was it also about taking social responsibility and being political? Was punk art about making money and could it be seen as a new kind of pop art, and punk artists as the followers of Andy Warhol? Or was it about opposing pop culture and punk artists were rather the followers of 1960s radical artists and activist groups? In 1979, there was a "Punk Art" exhibition, which showed first in Washington DC and New York, then travelled to Amsterdam, where it caused a big discussion. The articles takes this conflict as its starting point to take a look at different opinions on and ideas about what punk art should be.

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Photo by Thomas Litangen on Unsplash

Photo by Thomas Litangen on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The article makes an important contribution to explore punk art, first and foremost through extensive interviews with the artists and curators involved in 1979 (and research in their private archives) - both in Amsterdam and NYC. These voices are put into context through an art historical analysis of the punk movement.