Time for Revolutions: Records & Rebels (1966-1970) at ING Art Center
The young culture of the 60’s generated a rush of idealism and optimism which led to iconic movements for many generations. The western nations united in rejecting their society’s conservative values. The youth of the time had grown up in a climate of austerity, surrounded by the devastating effects of war. America’s and The United Kingdom’s youth planted the idea that the world can change for a peaceful future adopting a new, original, utopian lifestyle. The evolution that was accompanied by a rise in recreational drugs quickly spread to all levels of society on the European continent through experimentation of music, art, film and literature.
The exhibition Revolutions: Records & Rebels (1966-1970) at ING Art Center in Brussels explores the establishment of this novel way of thinking through the exhibition of more than 300 objects symbolising the Revolutions: Revolution in young identity (how we look), Revolution in the mind (how we change society), Revolution in consumption (how the market makes us buy) and the Revolution in communications (how we gather knowledge through the TV). These cultural, social, artistic and technological changes evolved between 1966 and 1970, for the significant period of only four years.
The exhibition reminds us of this prolific time, taking the visitors into a journey through the new fashion in the streets of London, the heart of May 1968 protests in Paris, the Summer of Love in San Francisco and the legendary festival of Woodstock.
Originally produced by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, ING Art Center has adapted the content for the exhibition in Brussels and included a number of topics specific to Belgium. The visitors can immerse themselves into the period by listening to The Beach Boys, The Beatles, David Bowie, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Rolling Stones and many more emblematic bands.
The generation of the 60s was not content with simply imagining a better future – it took full responsibility for building it, not relying on politics but on the minds of ordinary people. The idealistic people championed several causes: multiculturalism, feminism, environmentalism, gay liberation, pacifism, civil rights and so on. Topics which still generate a debate. Exploring issues that still dominate contemporary discourse, the exposition Revolutions: Records & Rebels (1966-1970) asks ’where do we go from here’?
