The 80s Are Back
It was a time of big dreams, big profits and big hair. A time when an actor could be president and a champion beer-drinker could be prime minister. An era when people were greedy, gender was bendy, pop was synthy, crocodiles were Dundee and Minogues were Dannii and Kylie. It was the 1980s - and now they're back, in a major exhibition opening at the Powerhouse Museum this month.
The 80s Are Back features more than 800 objects including images, artefacts, outfits and audio-visuals from the decade that taste forgot. Peter Cox, the museum's curator of Australian history, says that it's an exhibition whose time has come. "It's 30 years since the beginning of the 80s and it's pretty clear that there's a new generation looking to that decade for inspiration in fashion and music," he says.
Cox notes that in the popular imagination the 80s are defined by one notion above all: excess. "It was a period of economic boom sandwiched between two recessions. This was the era of deregulation and Reagan and Thatcher, and Keating and Hawke were deregulating the Australian economy. It was a period of prosperity and consumption and flourishing culture. Also, Australia was emerging, becoming flavour of the month overseas for while."
Baby boomers raised on hippie values ceased to have exclusive control over youth culture in the 80s, and the next generation defined themselves in opposition to them, embracing artificiality, style and affluence. "This is an exhibition for Generation X - it's about their youth, acknowledging their favourite shows, movies, music, video games, fads - and also to remind them of what was going on in the world at the time."
The show consists of items from the Powerhouse's own archives as well as several borrowed from collectors and celebrities. A yellow jumpsuit worn by Boy George at the height of his fame is on loan from the Culture Club singer himself, while Kylie, Iva Davies, Chrissy Amphlett and INXS have contributed outfits and musical instruments. Costumes on display include a guard's uniform from Prisoner and a gown worn by Linda Evans on Dynasty.
Visitors can watch clips from films and TV shows as well as music videos from the dawn of MTV. They'll have the chance to answer trivia questions and play retro video games. "In fact, they can play them on a real Commodore 64," Cox says.
Of course, not everyone spent the 1980s fumbling with Rubik's Cubes, snorting coke and breakdancing. While the show promises an extravaganza of nostalgic fun, there are sections highlighting the AIDS crisis, the Franklin River protests and the Cold War. "The threat of nuclear annihilation hung like a cloud over people's heads and it reverberates throughout 80s popular culture. While people are partying and being excessive, there's this sense that we could all die tomorrow. Yet paradoxically, when you look back on this period it seems like a more innocent time." Nick Dent
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