On the 14th March, music loves and culture boffins alike gathered at FACT for the launch of one of the most innovative exhibitions to date. The Art of Pop Video exhibits over 100 iconic music videos along with short films, waiting to be discovered by people if all ages, with videos from the past lined up along those which represent the future.
When I found myself dancing alone to Daft Punk in a room full of strangers, I knew it was time to leave...
As a child obsessed with music and learning the dance moves of my favourite girl bands, music videos were an exciting part of growing up for me. Now at 22 years of ages, I’ve stopped replicating those dance moves (most of the time) and after years of nagging from my mum, I’ve stopped sitting so close to the television out of fear of missing a single hair flick or step sequence from the likes of S Club 7 or The Spice Girls (I was only 10, remember) but I’m still excited by music videos, only now I’m appreciating them in a different kind of way. On my most recent visit to the exhibition, which I
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think is the fourth time I’ve been, I found myself talking to an employee who summed up the reason why the exhibition is so important in the first sentence he spoke to me; “I’ve never really thought of a music video as a piece of art, it’s like I’ve taken it for granted all these years” he said, and I couldn’t agree more.
For those who have satellite television, there are now more than 20 channels dedicated to the showing of new and old music videos, from the likes of Nirvana, Marilyn Manson, Rihanna and Professor Green. With the majority of these channels on a loop for 24 hours a day, there’s no shortage in discovering new releases or hidden gems. It’s this concept of discovery and sharing which brought the idea of the latest exhibition to be shown at FACT in the heart of the city. The exhibition highlights the development of the music video as not only a significant part of cultural society, but also an artistic genre, paying homage to a medium which is unlike any other, bringing together music, cinematography, performance and history. Curators of the exhibition, film producer Michael P. Aust and film critic Daniel Kothenschulte introduced the crowd to the exhibition as they
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