Ah, 1993: Bill Clinton was President, Bobbi Kristina was born to Whitney Houston, Brandon Lee died while filming The Crow, Guns n' Roses played their final show together (with the original lineup), Pearl Jam released Vs., and Nirvana performed on MTV's Unplugged. Now, twenty years later, the New Museum has opened an exhibit celebrating the year, which opens today and will run through May 26th. Just don't expect flannels and fuzzy green cardigans, "NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star" focuses on art made and exhibited in New York that year.
"Centering on 1993, the exhibition is conceived as a time capsule, an experiment in collective memory that attempts to capture a specific moment at the intersection of art, pop culture, and politics. The social and economic landscape of the early ’90s was a cultural turning point both nationally and globally. Conflict in Europe, attempts at peace in the Middle East, the AIDS crisis, national debates on health care, gun control, and gay rights, and caustic partisan politics were both the background and source material for a number of younger artists who first came to prominence in 1993. This exhibition brings together a range of iconic and lesser-known artworks that serve as both artifacts from a pivotal moment in the New York art world and as key markers in the cultural history of the city."
While the exhibit won't focus on the music of that time, it does get its name from the Sonic Youth album recorded in 1993 (and released the following year), and promises to take "a broad view of the New York scene as it existed twenty years ago." There will also be public talks like "The Internet Before the Web: Preserving Early Networked Cultures" and "An Evening with Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia," co-hosts of "the best hip hop radio show of all time." Click through for a preview.
