View Larger Cerebral Ballzy Gives the Met’s Punk Exhibit One Middle Finger Up
Punk is a word that’s lost its meaning. Since the movement began in the ’70s, there’s been a countless amount of associations projected on what “punk” is. Spiky hair. Jeans with holes. Loud music. But putting “punk” in a box is a bullshit act. An impossible act. Because when it comes down to it, punk is simple: It’s about saying fuck you to the box.
The failures of the new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “PUNK: Chaos to Couture,” have been heavily documented. Sasha Frere-Jones, writing for The New Yorker (which is owned by Conde Nast, one of the exhibits sponsors), says, “You can’t even begin to imagine what the point is, beyond suggesting that punk was searching for a corporate patron all along.” The Economist ran a simple headline: “An embarrassment.” The New York Times writesthat the designs look like they were “sent down the runway to startle fashionistas with money to burn.”
That’s all fine and good, and it’s encouraging to see the writers of the one percent—for whom this exhibit is no doubt intended—take it down on such an aggressive level. But what do those who are currently part of the scene, versus the ones documenting it, actually think?
