This blog is dedicated to the collection and display of media created during years from 1964 through 1980. I mostly focus on media from the US, but international works are included. This time period was rich with cultural happenings, thereby a prolific time artistically and journalistically.
It began in 1964, in the aftermath of JFK’s assassination, the rise in violence in Vietnam, the escalation of the Civil Rights Movement, and the beginning of Second-wave feminism. The “heart” of the period includes the Space Race, the Vietnam and Cold Wars, and the prevalent political/generational divide of the hippie movement: Summer of Love, Woodstock, Anti-War movement, etc. The period ends in 1980; Ronald Reagan was elected president, and the “Reagan Era” began.
The works created during this time can be seen as responses (or, in the less considered works, reactions) to the tumultuous outside world-- a constructive way for the creators to process the events and share their views.
I am interested in these “responses” because they represent the public’s attitudes toward certain issues, events, and cultural phenomena. I wasn’t alive during this time, but getting a general idea of the moods and tensions during that time helps me better relate to those who were.
Of course, this blog will never be able to provide a complete picture of the time. Rather, it is intended to be a fragmented portrait, one the viewer can casually look at without the pressure of understanding how every piece fits together. The posts I make are based on where my research has flowed; I am not going out of my way to include every important event of the period.
Most of all, the viewer is meant to leave with a better understanding of the feelings of someone other than themself. In a word, empathy.
See what they saw, hear what they heard, know what they felt.
I have included an accompanying illustration for each section of the blog. The viewer’s visual perspective is “placed” in a position of observing others interacting with the given form of media. It is reminder that the viewer is looking at historically rich work; each piece included made an impact on viewers when it was created. At the time of its creation, the work was relevant and current-- immediately important. In a way, we are secondhand viewers, and it is crucial to acknowledge the experiences of those who were first.