rage: Celebrating 25 Years

Overview

If you're the kid who spent their early teenage Saturday mornings sitting on the couch with a bowl of Coco Pops spacing out to ABC TV's seminal music video program rage, then this exhibition is for you. Music videos, the undisputed popular art form of the last two decades, have changed the way we experience culture: they’ve taught us dance moves, fashion trends, a dictionary's worth of slang, and how to just be kool.

The rage crew have collected 110 television sets, old and new, and hoisted them up on four huge metal scaffolds into the shape of the iconic rage logo. It's a striking installation considering artworks are often dwarfed by the cavernous, industrial Carriageworks foyer.

The exhibition is both a historical documentation of and a homage to what is now the world's longest-running music video program: rage began in 1987. The 'r' showcases the program's earliest years, with videos from artists including Kylie Minogue, Mental As Anything, Bobby McFerrin, Paula Abdul, and the Beastie Boys. The 750 videos (chosen from a library of 35,000) move in chronological order through to the 'e', where Justin Timberlake, Gotye, Lana Del Rey, Janelle Monae, and loads more have added their own flavours to the endlessly malleable art form.

Four pillars strung with headphones correspond to the videos playing on each of the letters, and despite tangled wires and limited space, it is really fun to pop on a pair of headphones and scan the multitude of flickering TVs to spot the corresponding film clip. From Prince and Michael Jackson through to Silverchair, Metallica, Sonic Youth, Grandmaster Flash, Michael Hutchence, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beck, Malcolm McLaren, OK Go, Bjork, Britney Spears, MIA, Beyonce, and Jay-Z, there is something here for everyone who ever liked music.

Within the 700 hours of video highlights, you can also spot archived footage of guest hosts such as Nick Cave, You Am I, Blondie, and Radiohead. It's both educational and surprisingly nostalgic, and a fun way to see how music video production has developed over the last 25 years — from spangles to sparkles, from mullets to mohawks, from smoke machines and cardboard props to green-screen special effects.

rage is an iconic Australian cultural touchstone and this celebratory exhibition has been creatively and thoughtfully put together by Carriageworks curator Beatrice Gralton, rage programmer Tyson Koh, and the rest of the rage team. It runs as part of Vivid Sydney until June 17.

Image by Daniel Boud.