Press preview: 4 - 6pm Monday 31st July
MTV is celebrating its 25th birthday tomorrow (August 1st) and will mark a quarter century at the forefront of popular culture with a unique art exhibition which will run all week from August 1st to the 6th at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). For one week only, MTV will be exhibiting giant, three-dimensional MTV logos customised by world-renowned names from music, fashion and art.
REM's Michael Stipe, Pharrell Williams, Fatboy Slim and Hot Chip are amongst the many music artists who have contributed their own customised MTV logos for the event.
Fashion designers including Julien Macdonald have also provided artwork alongside key street labels including Stussy, Mhi and A Bathing Ape, artists and designers like Peter Saville and Tomato, DJs including Tim Westwood, Nihal Arthanayake and Howie B.
Each of the artists and designers who have participated in the project were given a 3x3 foot clear acrylic logo as a blank canvas for their work. The finished pieces range in scope from Michael Stipe's cryptic artwork (which uses crushed CDs, earth and horsetail grass) to a crystal encrusted logo from Julien Macdonald and a logo crammed with yellow smiley balloons from Fatboy Slim, AKA Norman Cook.
Further works include a collage featuring pages from the Karma Sutra and key pop culture figures from Radio 1 DJ, Nihal, a Billionaire Boys Club design complete with rubies, diamonds and dollars design from Pharrell Williams, a remodelled logo in beechwood from Hot Chip, and a classic check pattern shirt logo from Ben Sherman.
Later this year, the logos will be auctioned with proceeds going to the Staying Alive Foundation, a registered charity that provides grants to mobilise and empower young people at the grassroots level to fight HIV and AIDS. More information on the Foundation can be found at www.staying-alive.org. Some artists, including Aha's Magne F, interwove messages about HIV/AIDS into their customised designs. Furuholmen's logo, entitled 'Lottery Of Life' is filled with raffle tickets and is intended to prompt thought on the random occurrences that determine our fates.
The exhibition has been specially curated for MTV by Daniel Mason, a writer and specialist in printing and packaging techniques who is a regular contributor to +81, Atmosphere and Creative Review magazines. Daniel also co-curated Peter Saville Estate at the Migros Museum in Zurich.
The artists say the following about their customised creations;
MICHAEL STIPE
"Horsetail is a prehistoric grass and a favourite of mine. The IFC is, in the 1980's, where I first saw Sonic Youth perform, and the Mapplethorpe show. To the purchaser of this piece: return the plexiglass with my first name scratched into it to me, and I will send you a unique photograph on canvas which is actually valuable"
PETER SAVILLE
"I was as excited as everyone else by the advent of a fully-fledged music channel 25 years ago. My initial optimism faded though as the culture of pop began its descent into pure entertainment. Corporately controlled karaoke is not very interesting to me, but then I guess nothing sells like teen spirit. I would rather it had stayed in the box..."
PHARELL WILLIAMS
"The logo I designed is a shout out to the dapper dan era"
JULIEN MACDONALD
"I wanted the logo to represent the Glitz and Glamour normally associated with my signature dresses. To achieve the sparkle it was only natural to use opulent crystals encrusting MTV in true Julien Macdonald style."
NIHAL (Radio 1)
'The music video is a tool of music to sell sexuality; my collage was created to merge Asian sensuality with the sexuality of the 21st century pop video. You will understand this when you see the smile on Jay Z's face."
ANDREW BUNNEY - STUSSY
When approached with this project, he thought about the images that MTV gave to him growing up. "My prevailing memory was of the short animated skits in-between the videos themselves, where the logo came to life, often with claymation. I intended this piece to evoke that spirit, and also the distinctive visual language of Stussy."
DAVID BRAY
'The smurfs represent tracks broadcast by MTV over 25 years. Some of the tracks have flourished, others have faded and melted away, some have crumbled and some have returned - remixed into new shapes and sizes'
The full list of figures to customise logos is as follows; 8 Ball, Nihal Arthanayake, A Bathing Ape, Ben Sherman, Big Active, David Bray, Central Station, Chris Cairns, Converse, Fatboy Slim, Pete Fowler, Magne F, Hot Chip, Howie B, Trevor Jackson, Julien Macdonald, Mhi, Plan B, Peter Saville, Michael Stipe, Stussy, Rachel Thomas, Tomato, Tim Westwood, Pharrell Williams and Jesse Wood. Another logo on display has been signed by luminaries such as Maximo Park, Kooks, Kaiser Chiefs, Hard Fi and the designer Paul Smith.
MTV is launching the week long exhibition with a select anniversary party at the ICA on the 31st July, preceded by a press preview. The party will also witness the debut screening of Mike Skinner's (The Streets) attempt to enter the record books with the world's longest video.
Press preview: 4 - 6pm Monday 31st July. Interviews are available.
Public Exhibition: From Aug 1-6, 12 noon - 7.30pm, ICA, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH, www.ica.org.co.uk, Box office: 0207 930 3647
