The `70s. Talkin` `Bout Future

Press Release
The '70s. Talkin' 'Bout Future
The '70s. Talkin' 'Bout Future
The Schallburg exhibition “The '70s. Talkin' 'Bout Future” from 19 March to 6 November 2016
focuses on this decade of social upheaval. In the era of Fukushima, Occupy, and global
migration, are the slogans of those days more relevant than ever? Aspiring to shape the
future, people in the '70s envisioned a better world to come.
The world becomes a shriller place
In the reflected light of mirrored disco balls, it rotated to the tunes of "Saturday Night Fever",
while Nina Hagen and the Sex Pistols provoked scandals and wrought new freedom from the
mainstream. Telly brought a panopticon of the great, wide world to viewers’ living rooms, and
children’s series like “Mouse TV” processed it in a way that children could understand. While
some regarded achievements such as the Formica-laminated kitchen kabinet and the Puch MC
50 moped as the dawn of a new era, others founded communes and anti-authoritarian
kindergartens and declared war on consumerist society.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, GB
1975;
© Friedrich / Interfoto /
picturedesk.com
The turbulent '70s
Wars from Nicaragua to Vietnam, the vote against the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant,
citizens' initiatives … the people stirred, something moved. Nuclear power? No, thanks!
People took to the streets, protested for world peace and laid the groundwork for the modern
welfare state. Free textbooks, the 40-hour workweek, legal abortion up to the first trimester –
all of these were hard-won achievements of the 1970s. What was new in the '70s? And what
remains? “Anti-authoritarian education!” “Power to the people!” “Education for everyone!”
Which historical battle cries still hold today?
A fundamental change of daily life
Demonstrations, protests, squattings … the dawning of consumer society manifested itself in
TV shows and youth cultures. While alternative lifestyles were developed and movements,
revolts, and resistances formed, the '70s were also a decade ridden with crises and wars hot
and cold.
© Greenpeace/ Robert
Keziere
Many claims from the era are still valid now and are in the process of renegotiation:
solidarity-based economies, radical museums, real democracies, open borders – all of these
issues are more explosive than ever in 2016! The exhibition “The '70s. Talkin' 'Bout Future”
presents promises and contradictions of a period that aimed to modernise the world. The
show becomes a discussion platform in its own right, addressing the question what remains of
the '70s today.
The Generations Game
The eponymous game show, known in the German-speaking world as “Am laufenden Band”,
was one of the most successful Saturday night shows of the 1970s. Packed with a mixture of
familiar and humorous games, it featured suspense and curiosities that literally came on a
conveyor belt.
Seven exhibition chapters provide insight into the colourful, turbulent 1970s against the
backdrop of contemporary issues and events. They trigger a never-ending rush of '70s
memories, but also encourage a confrontation with the present.
Woman´s Lib- stand up for your rights,
© STICHWORT. Archiv der Frauenund Lesbenbewegung (Vienna),
signature: II 516
Forum debate room
Embedded in the seven exhibition chapters are five debate rooms which bear historical
references to women’s cafes, anti-authoritarian kindergartens, the “Club 2” TV show,
communes and flat-sharing, as well as sit-ins.
The debate rooms serve as contact zones and forums where exhibition themes and topical
questions can be discussed. They might yield unexpected connections between the past and
the present, and prompt questions regarding the future. Designed in collaboration with artists
and museum educators, each debate room enriches the exhibition with the expertise of
visitors.
Nina Hagen with her guitarist Ferdinand,
Club2, © ORF / First Look / picturedesk.com
Do-it-yourself workshop
How should we live together? How can we cooperate in taking decisions, or in formulating
ideas, claims and questions? True to the spirit of the '70s, the exhibition’s own do-it-yourself
workshop is tailored specifically to school groups of all ages. The concept is based on the idea
of self-organisation; the keywords are: freedom, conflicts, contradictions and resistance. In
the do-it-yourself workshops we work with students to explore various topics in an ageappropriate way: Who makes the rules, and do we always have to follow them? What dreams,
utopias, and visions of the future are there? How can they be expressed? What demands and
lifestyles of the 1970s are still relevant today?
Poster for a textbook initiative, 1972;
Vienna, VGA,
© Wien, Vienna City Library at town
hall, poster, AC10610122
The DIY workshop also serves as a creative space, a future lab that includes lots of testing and
experimentation and offers tools for articulating individual desires and ideas.
Art in public space
“Art for everyone” – in the '70s, this also meant opening public squares, parks, and natural
areas to more than just statues and outdoor sculptures. “Art in public space” played a
significant role in debates surrounding public space as a place for democracy. For the
exhibition at Schallaburg, artists Danica Dakić, Petja Dimitrova, Oliver Ressler, and Anna Witt
were invited to use the medium of the poster as a tool for dialogue and public opinion. Posters
by these four artists appear in different spots and various formats around Schallaburg.
©Coop Himmelb(l)au I Katharina
Vonow
Schallaburg
Exhibition centre. Place of encounter. Annually changing exhibition topics with a finger on the
pulse of social developments, always with an eye to the present day.
Dialogue at the heart of Europe: from “GLORY & GLOOM” to “ VIKINGS!”, the “'70s”, and
“ISLAM” – Schallaburg maintains a lively exchange with its visitors. The burning questions of
our time are posed, answers sought. Discursive, curious, and visionary, Schallaburg opens
new perspectives on our rapidly changing world.
The Schallaburg – a place of encounter shaped by the harmonious interplay of the castle and
its exhibitions, garden, restaurant, and nature.
Photo credits:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, GB 1975; © Friedrich / Interfoto / picturedesk.com
© Greenpeace/ Robert Keziere
Woman´s Lib – stand up for your rights, © STICHWORT. Archiv der Frauen- und Lesbenbewegung (Vienna); signature: II 516
Nina Hagen with her guitarist Ferdinand, Club2, © ORF / First Look / picturedesk.com
Poster for a textbook initiative, 1972; Vienna, VGA, © Wien, Vienna City Library at town hall, poster, AC10610122
© Coop Himmelb(l)au I Katharina Vonow