My name is Peter Cox and I work as a curator of Australian history & society here at the Powerhouse Museum. We have been thinking of developing an exhibition about life in Australia during the 1980s and are now setting out on that journey.
I enjoy my job and feel lucky to have been the curator of past exhibitions at the Powerhouse like Real wild child: Australian rock music then and now, Spinning around: 50 years of Festival Records and On the box: Great moments in Australian television. A new exhibition focussing on Australian popular culture in the 1980s seems like a logical progression. It’s an exciting prospect but quite a challenge.
The idea came about when the Museum’s Director, Dr Dawn Casey, arrived early in 2008 and invited the curators to put forward a new set of ideas for internally developed exhibitions. Lots of proposals were suggested. I came up with a couple of ideas that had relevance to baby boomers but were maybe not so appealing for the next generation. I’m talking about the prized ‘family audience’, people aged between their late 20s and their mid 40s who are looking for somewhere to take their children for a day out. The so-called Generation X. I started thinking about what would appeal to them, and came up with the idea of an exhibition about their formative years, which would roughly equate to the period 1980 to 1989.
The idea is for an exhibition about Australian culture and lifestyle during the 1980s, including music, film, television, street fashion, design, having fun, partying, toys, games, technology and everyday life. The exhibition would explore youth culture and hopefully appeal to people who now look back at the 80s as a seminal time in their lives.
So here we go. I’ll keep posting as the ideas begin to form but I need your help. Please give your comments on what the 1980s now mean to you. Are you nostalgic for the 80s? What were the key events of the era, both locally, nationally and globally. Who were the influential people? What were your favourite films, books, magazines, albums, songs, music venues, TV shows, advertisements, games, pastimes, trends, fashions and passions, as you lived through this eventful decade? How have school, work, leisure and lifestyles changed since then? What was your neighbourhood, town or city like? What was Australia like and how has it changed?
You’ve heard of the roaring twenties and the swinging sixties. Is there a similarly stereotyped view of the 80s? Is it an accurate one?
And most importantly, what objects, images, themes and experiences would you want and expect to see in this exhibition?
I have ideas of my own but I’d love to get your feedback on these questions and any other observations you can offer about the 1980s.
Peter Cox, December 1984
Banner image: Bicentennial street decorations, Macquarie Stree, Sydney, 1988. Photo by John Gollings.
