Syllabus links

The 80s are back supports the NSW school curriculum, particularly in the following areas:

HSIE Stage 2 & 3
This supports the following content strands:

• Change and continuity
• Cultures
• Social systems and structures

Society and Culture Stage 6
The exhibition is particularly relevant to both the Preliminary Depth Study: Personal and Social Identity and the HSC Depth Study: Popular Culture.

HSC Preliminary Depth Study: Personal and Social Identity
Relevant outcomes:
P2, P3, P5, P6, P8, P10
The exhibition helps year 11 students to explore how individuals develop identity and a sense of self through:

• The purpose of socialisation
• The development of personality, identity and the social self

Youth subcultures of the 80s such as Goths, Rockabillies, Punks, Mods, Skinheads, Heavy Metal and Hip Hop are all featured in the exhibition. Students could identify the commonalities between these subcultural groups in terms of how belonging to such a group could help a person form his or her identity.
Exhibition sections: Subcultures, Teenage girl’s bedroom

HSC Depth Study Popular Culture
Relevant outcomes:
H2, H3, H4, H5, H7, H8
The exhibition will help students develop an understanding of the nature of popular culture and how it can be identified according to its distinguishing characteristics of:

• Being associated with commercial products
• Developing from a local to a national then a global level
• Allowing consumers to have widespread access to it
• Constantly changing and evolving

Aspects of popular culture focus studies that can be found in the exhibition include fashion, fads, popular music styles, Barbie dolls, film, television soaps and gaming.
Society and culture students need to investigate popular culture in terms of its consumers, the organisations and people who control it, how it may be perceived differently, and how it may contribute to social change. Each of these key aspects of the focus study are evident in the exhibition.
Exhibition sections: On the screen, Video and computer games, Music, Fashion, Fads and toys, Teenage girl’s bedroom, Design and The Neo-80s

HSC Core: Social and Cultural Continuity and Change
Society & Culture students will also find the exhibition an inspiring consideration of Continuity and Change in Australian society in relation to:

• Increasing interaction with the wider world in terms of politics, technology, communication, migration and popular culture.
• Activism from Indigenous Australian groups and individuals, seen through the work of Indigenous rock bands and the Indigenous response to the Bicentennial Celebrations and Land Rights.
• Environmental activism, on display with Tasmania’s Franklin River and on the high seas with the Rainbow Warrior and Greenpeace.
• The rise of a new social classification, the ‘yuppies’, young urban professionals, characterised by upwardly mobile males who liked to announce their financial success with displays of material wealth such as luxury cars, expensive appliances and ‘designerism’ in clothing and other products.
• The continuing emergence of gay subculture, especially evidenced by Sydney’s Mardi Gras and gay community’s response to the AIDS crisis.

Exhibition sections: On the Screen, Video and computer games, Music, Fashion, Subcultures, Design, The AIDS crisis, Partying and The big events – Case Studies: Franklin River, Anti-War, Indigenous Land Rights, Bicentenary and Cambodian Refugee AV

History Stage 4
Topic 1 – Investigating History
Relevant outcomes:
4.4, 4.5, 4.6
The exhibition will provide students with the opportunity of Working Historically, identifying primary and secondary sources as well as identifying major periods of historical time and sequencing people and events within specific periods of time, in particular through interpreting the exhibition’s timeline section.
Exhibition sections: The big events – Timeline

History Stage 5
Topic 6 – Changing Rights and Freedoms
Relevant outcomes:
5.1, 5.3
The exhibition captures Change over Time and the experiences of different cultural and social groups in Australia, such as changing patterns of migration during the 80s, in particular those migrant groups from Vietnam and Cambodia. The exhibition features an Audio-visual case study on the Cambodian migrant, Thin Em and his experiences. The exhibition highlights in particular the Indigenous response to the 1988 Bicentenary.
Exhibition sections: The big events – Case Studies: Bicentenary, Cambodian Refugee AV

History Stage 5
Topic 7 – People Power and Politics
Relevant outcomes:
5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.7, 5.8, 5.10
The exhibition features some key political events and issues in the 80s that impacted on people’s lives and politics of the era, both within Australia and in Australia’s international relationships. The exhibition’s Timeline highlights key events and decisions made in both the Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke eras of Australian politics. The exhibition also highlights People Power in relation to environmental issues such as saving the Franklin River.
Exhibition sections: The big events – Timeline and Case Studies: Franklin River, Anti War Posters, Cambodian Refugee AV

History Stage 5
Topic 8 – Australia’s social and cultural history in the post-war period
Relevant outcomes:
5.1, 5.2, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7
The exhibition has a wealth of materials for the Decade study, illustrating and commenting on the major social and cultural features of the 80s, including fashion, music, entertainment, sport and British and American influences on popular culture.

Students can use the exhibits as sources to help them learn about the impact of changing technology on everyday life in post-war Australia in terms of significant examples of architecture, entertainment and communications.
The impact of the 80s decade in shaping Australian identity can be summed up by students considering Australian imagery apparent in art and design. 
Exhibition sections: On the screen, Video and computer games, Music, Fashion, Fads and toys, Design and The big events – Timeline 

Textiles Technology Stages 4-5
Relevant outcomes:
4.2.1, 4.3.1, 4.3.2 and 5.2.1, 5.3.1, 5.3.2
This exhibition features some of the essential looks of the 80s, international fashion design and the work of young Australian designers. It is also relevant to the Area of Study, Textiles and Society, where the exhibition features a piece and a projection of the Australian AIDS Memorial quilt, its panels symbolic of the individuals being remembered and a cultural sign of the times. Students will have the opportunity to learn about the design features characteristic of textile items throughout the decade and how historical, cultural and contemporary perspectives, which feature in the exhibition, can help inform their own design practice.
The Neo-80s (recent 80s revival) section of the exhibition also highlights for students the cyclical nature of textile design trends and how this important decade influences fashion today. 
Exhibition sections: On the screen, Music, Subcultures, Partying, The AIDS crisis, Fashion, Fads and toys, Design and The big events – Timeline 

Textiles & Design Stage 6
Relevant outcomes:
P5.1, P6.1 and H6.1
Students will be able to gather insights into the historical, cultural and contemporary developments on textiles throughout the 80s and also provide a context for the Area of Study, Australian Textile, Clothing, Footwear and Allied Industries and Design.
Exhibition sections: On the screen, Music, Subcultures, Partying, Fashion and Design

Design & Technology Stage 5
Relevant outcomes:
5.2.1, 5.3.1, 5.3.2
The 80s are back features a section that focuses on Design throughout this significant decade. The exhibition highlights various examples of technologies, which emerged during this era such as the VCR revolution, video games and personal computers, providing students with an insight into the impact these past technologies have had on the individual, society and environments. The exhibition also features the work of significant designers of this period such as Jenny Kee, Ken Done and Reg Mombassa from Mambo and some of the issues and trends that influenced their work.
Exhibition sections: On the screen, Video and computer games, Music, Fashion, Design and The big events – Timeline

Design & Technology Stage 6
Relevant outcomes:
P1.1, P2.1, P2.2, P5.3 and H1.1, H1.2, H2.1, H2.2, H5.2
The exhibition highlights key design groups, such as Memphis and Alessi and designers such as Ettore Sottsass. The exhibition highlights the interrelationship of design, technology, society and the environment throughout the decade told through the following exhibition aspects:

• Designing the Bicentennial city – Sydney designers’ response to the new urban, cultural and sporting infrastructure which was emerging,
• Funky Nationalism – Australian imagery reappeared in art and design, featuring not gum trees and sheep, but corrugated iron, FJ Holdens, beer cans and other signifiers of everyday life.
• Design across borders – highlighting the cross-over between architectural, product and interior design which defined design in this decade.

Exhibition sections: Fashion and Design

Visual Arts Stage 4 & 5
Relevant outcomes:
4.7, 4.8, 4.9 and 5.7, 5.8, 5.9
This exhibition is particularly relevant in terms of exploring the critical and historical interpretations of art and design and Australian and International designers and architects working at this time.
Exhibition sections: Fashion and Design

Visual Design Stage 5
Relevant outcomes:
5.2, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10
The exhibition provides students with the opportunity to critically and historically interpret design objects, which feature from this decade and how they reflect the time. The exhibition contains dozens of graphic posters designed and made in the 80s.
Exhibition sections: Fashion and Design

Visual Arts and Visual Design Stage 6
Relevant outcomes:
CH1, CH2, CH3, CH4 (Visual Design)
P7, P8, P9, P10 and H7, H8. H9, H10 (Visual Arts)
The exhibition features the flamboyant practices of Memphis and Alessi, which promoted a social philosophy of democratic challenge to the puritan stricture of modernism, particularly relevant to the postmodern frame. The cultural frame is also explored in the exhibition within the Design section in terms of the revival of Australian imagery in art & design.
Exhibition sections: Fashion and Design

Music Stage 4
Relevant outcomes:
4.7, 4.8, 4.10
Students will be able to explore listening to significant examples of 80s music in the exhibition providing an effective social, cultural and historical context for this learning.
Exhibition sections: On the screen, Music, Neo-80s

Music Stage 5 Elective course – Australian Music
Relevant outcomes:
5.7, 5.10
Students of the Music elective course will gain invaluable insight into Australian Music, which forms a dedicated section of this exhibition and supports a range of repertoire such as popular music, rock and music for radio, film, television and multimedia.
The exhibition highlights the influence and impact of technology on music throughout the decade, where many bands traded in their guitars for synthesizers and drum machines, with Synth pop becoming a major sound of the 80s.
A study of Rock Music could be complemented by a visit to the 80s Exhibition, exploring the music of specific groups or solo performers, comparing their styles, considering their innovations, fusions of styles and use of technology.
The exhibition through the Subcultures section, highlights how music remained one of the distinctive badges of different youth subcultures while the Neo-80s section highlights the influence of 80s sounds and styles in music today through artists such as Cut Copy and The Presets.
Exhibition sections: On the screen, Music, Subcultures, The Neo-80s

Music 1 Stage 6
Relevant outcomes:
P4, P6, P8 and H4, H6, H8
The exhibition provides students undertaking Music 1 Stage 6 effective Learning Experiences, such as Musicology and music in a variety of Contexts, featuring relevant topics such as Australian music, Rock music and Popular Music. 
Exhibition sections: On the screen, Music, Subcultures, The Neo-80s

Music 2 Stage 6
Relevant outcomes:
P7, P9 and H7, H9
Students undertaking the mandatory topic for the HSC course, Music of the last 25 years (Australian focus) will benefit from this exhibition.

Exhibition sections: On the Screen, Music, Subcultures, The Neo-80s