'Spectacle: The Music Video Exhibition'
Finally, a museum exhibition devoted to music videos.
If you think 'treadmills' whenever someone mentions 'OK Go' then you're already well acquainted with the music video as an art form. However, despite having an enormous influence on pop culture, music, cinema, fashion and advertising, the music video has never really been given its due. The Contemporary Arts Center in Ohio is putting on an exhibition devoted solely to the music video which will examine the format through photography, video screenings, objects and interactive installations. The exhibition, Spectacle: The Music Video, will feature examples from Devo, the Beastie Boys, Michael Jackson, Madonna and even Lady Gaga, and will highlight the role music videos played in shaping the careers of cinematic game-changers like David Fincher, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Mark Romanek. Here's our highlights of what will be included in the exhibition:
One video that became a staple on MTV in the 80s was the Beastie Boys' ever-enduring '(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)'. Twenty-five years later they revisited the original with help from celebrity fans Elijah Wood, Seth Rogen, Danny McBride, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Jack Black (amongst others). Check out both versions below.
Michael Jackson made music video history in 1983 when he released the 14-minute video for 'Thriller'. Not only did it win a Grammy and four MTV awards, it went on to be named the 'most successful music video' of all time by the Guinness World Records and was voted the 'most influential pop music video of all time'.
Before David Fincher directed Fight Club and The Social Network, he worked with Madonna on several of her videos, including 'Vogue'.
He's only made a handful of feature films, but Michel Gondry has been directing music videos since the 80s, working with the likes of Radiohead, The White Stripes, Kylie Minogue and The Chemical Brothers. And then he went and made the unofficial videos for two tracks by Flight of the Conchords, 'Carol Brown (Stick Around)' and 'Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor'.
Last year Spike Jonze not only teamed up with the Beastie Boys for the 6th time to direct 'Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win', he also created the video for Kanye and Jay-Z's 'Otis' (gotta love that cameo from Aziz Ansari).
Another insanely popular music video directed by Spike Jonze was for Weezer's 'Island in the Sun'. And how could you go wrong with all of the cute baby lions and puppies and kittens?
Mark Romanek hasn't done a music video in a while, (though he directed feature film Never Let Me Go last year), but he's well-known for his work on videos for David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Coldplay and Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' 'Hurt'.
And here's OK Go doing their thing on the treadmills.
Spectacle: The Music Video will be run from March 3 - September.
The Contemporary Arts Center is located at 44 E 6th Street, Cincinnati, Ohio.
www.contemporaryartscenter.org
Alanna Bromley
