Museum Exhibition on Gig Posters

General art-related discussion.
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sabotage
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Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:47 pm

A few weeks ago I posted a thread looking for input on an exhibition on music, but I got almost no feedback. I guess it doesn't interest anyone here. I am hoping to get more feedback on a potential exhibition on gig posters. I'm thinking 60 or so posters, all encompassing.

1st question, what MUST be in such a show? I would think breaking it up by date is the most logical.
2nd question, would you be interested in going to such a show? Would you travel to see it?
3rd question, would you be interested in helping with such a show? Would you loan excellent examples from your own collection to a museum for 6 months or so without compensation?

I really hope this generates some discussion. Come on guys! Help me out.
danieldanger
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Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:07 pm

the trick with displaying gigposters in the way that does them the most justice to people outside of this culture is to bombard people with them. 60 isnt enough. 60 is one persons booth at flatstock. the shock and awe wow factor comes from people walking into an entire room of them and its so much to take it its overwhelming. then they dig right in and spend time exploring. watching newbies come into flatstock is seriously a surreal experience. the National Poster Retrospecticus show here in MA was 300 posters and that wasnt even that big of a room. but people loved it. the tour will be even more. if youve got museum space, you should be thinking floor to ceiling the entire room. hundreds and hundreds of posters. i wouldnt try to organize it, i wouldnt genre it, or make it sequential, the names and dates on the posters alone is enough. they tell their own history, you really dont need to do much more than give people a few hours of stuff to look at. maybe a sheet with some corresponding numbers and names on them.
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sabotage
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Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:13 pm

Great feedback. I saw a show the Walker in Minneapolis that had a bunch of objects kind of scattered and a corresponding print outs with titles and artists of each. The idea of being inundated by poster is great, I really like it.

The only problem is getting each piece on loan is a logistical nightmare. If we could get a single collection, it obviously makes it way easier.
How were the posters hung? each one must be framed. That is also a major expense.
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ErocAfellar
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Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:03 pm

We had this in Denver a few years ago: http://exhibits.denverartmuseum.org/psychedelic/
HappaHaoli wrote:That is freaking Eroctic!
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sidewaysscott
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Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:20 pm

ErocAfellar wrote:We had this in Denver a few years ago: http://exhibits.denverartmuseum.org/psychedelic/
That show was fantastic. I'd love for it to come again.
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sabotage
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Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:41 pm

ErocAfellar wrote:We had this in Denver a few years ago: http://exhibits.denverartmuseum.org/psychedelic/
Awesome! Thanks for that. Looks like a show I would like. Any idea if it was popular?
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Fattyramone
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Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:42 pm

Speaking as big Beatles Fan , i think this would intrest many Americans who may not know its origins outside of the sleeve they may be familiar with..

Image

This sleeve is very familiar to Americans as "The Butcher sleeve" , it was issued and immediatly recalled for fear of offending people and sullying the "Fab 4" image , its since become a cornerstone item of any serious Beatles collector...

However , this image was originally used 6-8 months prior in the UK music paper "NME" as an advert for "Paperback Writer" , and passed without comment in regards of its image content (decapitated dolls heads , blood and raw meat)...

Although not strictly speaking a poster per say it does lend itself to being displayed as such , and if displayed along side an origial Butcher sleeve album sleeve (2nd and 3rd state would surfice , a 1st state would be prohibitably expensive) the iI believe it would be of great intrest to your patrons.

Image
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Fattyramone
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Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:50 pm

The album itself was also promoted with this poster ...again , very expensive if you want an original , but there are lots of good repros out there for story-telling purposes.

Image
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ErocAfellar
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Wed Dec 05, 2012 11:03 pm

sabotage wrote:
ErocAfellar wrote:We had this in Denver a few years ago: http://exhibits.denverartmuseum.org/psychedelic/
Awesome! Thanks for that. Looks like a show I would like. Any idea if it was popular?

Very popular from what I remember. It was busy the day I went. I think the exhibition was extended beyond the initial dates
HappaHaoli wrote:That is freaking Eroctic!
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ackirkpatrick
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Wed Dec 05, 2012 11:28 pm

I think you should organize by date for sure. The early stuff comes with so much history that I find it really fascinating. I think 60s-70s, 95-present would be the most meaningful categories. I started collecting for the artist just as much as I did for their work.

Maybe try and feature a few pieces and go floor to ceiling with the rest?

It would be great if you could put a set of variants side by side. Like EMEK's Whale Decemberists, there must be 50 of them.
The printing process is pretty cool as well. I always like looking at a print as the screens are added, it's amazing how the image evolves with each screen.
Contact the artists, they all have a stash, it's free advertising, and they may even get a few sales out of it.
If it's a museum exhibit, couldn't the exhibit travel to various museums?
I would be more than willing to donate if it was insured.
anners84
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Thu Dec 06, 2012 1:53 am

First of all, I agree with D.Danger. Sixty posters is someone's stash. Walls of posters overwhelms and
shows diversity of styles. It suggests a real art movement and a history.

Also, try to tell the gigposter story if you can. Show plenty of examples of the sixties stuff, and follow
the story line up to the present. If you're working with a museum curator, they'll know how to help
with the presentation.

The biggest challenge is going to be the framing expense. Maybe a local historical society can help.
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CHR1S
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Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:44 am

If you're borrowing a lot of poster they may already be framed. Otherwise most museums keep an inventory of common size frames (14x19, 16x20, 26x34, 30x40, etc.). Although you may be talking about hundreds of frames which means buying a lot of frames. Another way to offset the cost of the show is to have it travel and sell it to other museums.
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Thu Dec 06, 2012 6:02 pm

I'm not into these Salon style jampacked walls of overkill where it's hard to look at the art so people instead try to look cool in front of a installation . If you want people to stop and actually look at the prints one by one , side by side with the ocassional second tere is the way .
shoot , move and communicate - 125th SIG BN saying

Leokani Okauwila
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sabotage
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Fri Dec 07, 2012 3:20 am

sabotage wrote: 1st question, what MUST be in such a show?
2nd question, would you be interested in going to such a show? Would you travel to see it?
3rd question, would you be interested in helping with such a show? Would you loan excellent examples from your own collection to a museum for 6 months or so without compensation?
I appreciate all feedback, but I'm mostly interested in the above questions which no one has addressed. How this hypothetical show is organized is really putting the cart before the horse.
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ricv64
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Fri Dec 07, 2012 9:48 am

OK to answer number one is the toughest . Gigposters are viewed as commercial art at best . It's a subculture of a subculture. They don't want to just mount a show they want a return either finacially , critically . They want to be viewed as historcally mounting an important period .The artist would have to be viewed more then just someone popular on a couple of messageboards and blogs . If someone was to write them a big sponcership cheque that would sure guide their decision . The people I know workin in museums look at the genre in terms of a small movement and don't single out names of artist .

For number 2 , nope I wouldn't travel and to go if it were locally depends on my mood . Who wants to pay admission if you can easily access it already ?

For number 3 , maybe if asked but museum people don't want outsiders stirring up the pot unless they're writing cheques
shoot , move and communicate - 125th SIG BN saying

Leokani Okauwila
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