What To Expect From The World's First Music Video Exhibition

The neon title at the exhibition’s atrium, where you can sit and watch Kanye videos on a giant screen. credit: MMI

“The music video is not dead,” announced Meg Grey Wells as she strode through a darkened hall in the Museum of Moving Image, illuminated by the glare of hundreds of seminal music videos surrounding her on all sides. Wells is one half of the husband-and-wife curatorial team behind MMI’s groundbreaking exhibition, “Spectacle: The Music Video,” which opened on April 3, and claims to be the first museum exhibition in history dedicated to this oft-overlooked art form.

An installation view on the upper level, 4,000 square foot space.; credit: MMI

“Music videos are easily accessible, and they have so much room for creativity,” Wells continues, “Unlike feature films or commercials, you don’t have to worry about distribution or making money, necessarily—you just want to make it look as cool as possible, so the weirder and more original, the better.”

A recreation of Steriogram’s “Walkie Talkie Man", by Michel Gondry; credit: MMI

“Weird and original” might as well be the mantra for the sprawling exhibition—which far more than just “Whip It” playing on loop (although that’s there too, if you're wondering). A formidable collection of 300 or so videos, props, artifacts and ephemera are scattered throughout the museum, and most have never been shown in public before.

Many installations are highly interactive, and viewers are encouraged to dance, touch and peer their way through most of them. Here are some of the highlights:

A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE

Still from Radiohead’s “House of Cards” video.; credit: MMI

Sensing our desire to do more than just sit and stare at screens, trailblazing music video directors have been harnessing technologies to create interactive music videos—which might very well be the future of the medium.

Several of the most noteworthy videos in this vein are on display, including The Arcade Fire’s “Neon Bible,” (directed by Vincent Morisset), which demonstrates how wonderfully creepy touchscreen technology can be. Radiohead’s “House of Cards” (dir: James Frost), was the first video to be shot without any cameras; lasers and scanners were used instead to create a 3D rendering of Thom Yorke’s head.

The Sonos Playground Deconstructed, an installation that uses motion-capture technology to let visitors interact with animations on the wall; Credit: MMI

Interactivity also extends to the YouTube generation’s love of remixing their favorite videos. “People aren’t passive anymore,” Wells explains, “they want to jump in and be a part of it.” Examples of cover videos, “vidding” (taking footage from an existing movie/TV show, and setting it to a song), and other YouTube specialties abound. Look out for the video of “Gangnam Style,” where ambient background noises of footsteps and door slams have been added in. It’s silly in the best sort of way.

A LONG, DARK CORRIDOR OF SCANDAL

A series of peepholes stretch down a long hallway bathed in red light. Peer into each, and you’ll see a selection of “provocative” music videos, which pushed boundaries with their controversial content—sometimes instigating public debate, or at least enraging a soccer mom or two.

Co-curator Meg Grey Wells, who also runs Flux, a creative studio based in California, credit: Michelle Lhooq

Videos that made the cut: Aphex Twin’s “Come to Daddy,” Bjork’s “Pagan Poetry,” and Tyler, The Creator’s “Yonkers.” 

MICHEL GONDRY'S SCRAWLS, AND OTHER EPHEMERA

Michel Gondry’s ambitious video for Cibo Matto’s “Sugar Water” was filmed like a visual palindrome: one half of the screen told a story backwards, while the other half told it the right way. In one shot. To keep his head straight, Gondry wrote a detailed list of notes for himself—and they’re on display for the first time ever.

Michel Gondry’s notes for Sugar Water; credit: Michelle Lhooq

Other features include the paint cannons and splattered coats from OK GO’s “This Too Shall Pass,” and the original animation drawings from A-ha’s “Take On Me” music video, Fever Ray’s occult-inspired stage costume—miniature skull included.

Props from OK GO’s “This Too Shall Pass; credit: Michelle Lhooq

In sum: Spectacle: The Music Video is a dizzyingly comprehensive, highly engaging and refreshingly unpretentious look at history’s most innovative and boundary-pushing videos. Go, and bring your dancing shoes.

@MichelleLHOOQ