2007-03-03 at The Source
Fear of a young planet
158 Xinle Rd Taxi Printout
Following Source Gallery's successful opening exhibition "Filling the void", where four of China's finest street artists went wild on a bunch of skateboards, the second exhibition will bring some street style history to Shanghai's biggest street art gallery. In collaboration with London's PYMCA (Photographic Youth Music Culture Archive), "Fear of a Young Planet" will show a series of striking photography, bringing to life three of the most influential youth tribes from the seventies and eighties. "Fear of a young planet" will run from 3 March to 28 March 2007. Private view 2 March, 7.30pm. Groups of kids who flipped the finger at authority and existing fashions and did something different. While the styles varied, the reaction was often the same. These groups were regarded with fear, with distrust, with anger. Seen to be tearing up the rules, destroying society and probably taking your daughters along for the ride. Decades later, it's possible to see how much influence these groups have had on today's styles and attitudes.
The PYMCA collection is run by avid enthusiasts and is a celebration of the self-expression, idealism, frustrations, resilience and creative vitality of young people in the world. The exhibition will feature work from some of the period's best photographers. Janette Beckman was in London during the seventies to record the birth of UK punk before moving to the US where she captured all of the key players in the underground hip-hop scene. Paul Hartnett has been documenting youth cultures from around the world for thirty years, and will be in Shanghai for the exhibition opening.
Nick Barham, gallery curator from Kong, says, "Today's teens in Shanghai can match any country's youth for their creativity, style and hunger to change the rules. They are locked into global youth culture. But it hasn't always been that way. Being young in China in the seventies and eighties was very different to how it was in the West. We thought it would be great to bring some of classic images from those periods over here and show some of the roots and influences for today's youth cultures."
Kong is also collaborating with Kong is also collaborating with crw-1.com (Creative Research Workshop), a Shanghai based collective who documents contemporary Chinese street style and creativity. CRW will be displaying a wide range of their photography: they have taken snaps of over a thousand people in the last two years. By working with some of Shanghai's leading street brands - The Thing, Eblis-Hungi, MS - they have helped to its street culture to flourish.
Rodney Evans, the other gallery curator and a professional photographer, has produced a striking series of studio portraits of some of the CRW subjects. "We think there is the same kind of energy in China right now that you found at the beginning of some of the most important youth movements in history. We wanted to record the attitude and energy that's flowing through Shanghai right now."
HeLiLi is the creative director for the project. At 22 she's part of China's new wave of creatives, keen to be part of a Chinese generation that is forming its own style. "Right now a lot of the kids in China know what different youth cultures look like without understanding where they come from. There's a saying that goes "Yi Shi Wei Jian" - 'Learn from history'. The more people understand history, the more they can create their own distinct cultures."
Photo by Rodney Evans
The PYMCA collection is run by avid enthusiasts and is a celebration of the self-expression, idealism, frustrations, resilience and creative vitality of young people in the world. The exhibition will feature work from some of the period's best photographers. Janette Beckman was in London during the seventies to record the birth of UK punk before moving to the US where she captured all of the key players in the underground hip-hop scene. Paul Hartnett has been documenting youth cultures from around the world for thirty years, and will be in Shanghai for the exhibition opening.
Nick Barham, gallery curator from Kong, says, "Today's teens in Shanghai can match any country's youth for their creativity, style and hunger to change the rules. They are locked into global youth culture. But it hasn't always been that way. Being young in China in the seventies and eighties was very different to how it was in the West. We thought it would be great to bring some of classic images from those periods over here and show some of the roots and influences for today's youth cultures."
Kong is also collaborating with Kong is also collaborating with crw-1.com (Creative Research Workshop), a Shanghai based collective who documents contemporary Chinese street style and creativity. CRW will be displaying a wide range of their photography: they have taken snaps of over a thousand people in the last two years. By working with some of Shanghai's leading street brands - The Thing, Eblis-Hungi, MS - they have helped to its street culture to flourish.
Rodney Evans, the other gallery curator and a professional photographer, has produced a striking series of studio portraits of some of the CRW subjects. "We think there is the same kind of energy in China right now that you found at the beginning of some of the most important youth movements in history. We wanted to record the attitude and energy that's flowing through Shanghai right now."
HeLiLi is the creative director for the project. At 22 she's part of China's new wave of creatives, keen to be part of a Chinese generation that is forming its own style. "Right now a lot of the kids in China know what different youth cultures look like without understanding where they come from. There's a saying that goes "Yi Shi Wei Jian" - 'Learn from history'. The more people understand history, the more they can create their own distinct cultures."
Photo by Rodney Evans
| ADDRESS | 158 Xinle Rd | |
| 新乐路158号,近东湖路 | ||
| PHONE | 5404-3808 | |
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