Registration for the 2024 Punk Scholars Network UK annual conference is now open. There are two options for tickets: in person and online, please select the one that best suits you. Those attending online will be send a TEAMS link 48 hours prior to the conference opening on the 12th December (UK timezones).
The panels will be a mixture of in person and online presentations throughout the two days.
Registration link: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/booking/select/wAehEOCRbGmV
Part of the Seeing the Scene Series
I enjoy doing this series because each interview teaches me something new about punk’s diverse visual culture. I am most familiar with photography—photographs themselves but also the ways that photographs work together to tell stories. However, I appreciate opportunities to have conversations with other punks about punk art that can stretch my thinking about current and historical punk culture. Maria Buszek is an art historian. She is broadly interested in feminist popular culture with specific interests in punk and post-punk art histories. I have read her work in the past and was excited to meet her this past summer at the 2024 Punk Scholars Network conference in Chicago. We agreed to talk for the Seeing the Scene series about the unique and overlapping histories of punk art (especially in the U.S. and the U.K.). I wanted to know how Maria understood various art modalities used by punks and her thoughts about the proliferation of art shows and museums dedicated to punk art.
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Laibach's concerts come seriously close to the number of my most visited concerts, such as Gori Ussi Winnetou and Kud Idijoti. However, Laibach is a special case. Their concerts are not just an ordinary ‘best of’ section, but a conceptual journey through carefully selected songs, supported by VJ-ing full of strong messages in the manner of their recognizable style. Their concerts are more of a ritual than a performance and, as some would say, on the border between artistic performance and political manifesto. Yesterday's concert (05/10/24) at the Boogaloo club in Zagreb was another opportunity for Laibach to present their cult album Opus Dei in a new guise. If you're already asking about the location, I have to admit, I can't compare to the recent performance at the Small Roman Theatre in Pula. Pula has that ancient magic, the ancient amphitheater and that special feeling of history under a clear sky. No, yesterday's gig, regardless of the cramped space at Boogaloo, brought new energy and, dare I say, a more intense atmosphere. Upon entering Boogaloo, I immediately noticed something that disturbed me, several neo-Nazis who entered the concert. Seeing such characters at the concert of a band that, with irony, satirical commentary on totalitarian systems and propaganda visuals, constantly provoked and opposed fascism, was paradoxical. However, my uneasiness was eased by the message Laibach sent via the video wall ‘Death to Fascism.’ I hope those guys get the point.
Although it was clear that many came to the ‘event’ more than to the concert, had its moments of frustration. Yes, there was talk, but let's be realistic, this is a rock machine, not a theatre show. Laibach gives all on stage, while the audience, as usual, balances between engrossment in the message and the occasional need to be entertained. When we talk about Laibach and their cult album Opus Dei, we come to an interesting aspect of their artistic appropriation. Laibach are masters of ‘appropriating’ other people's work and transforming it into something new, often ironic. At this concert, they showed again why they are considered pioneers of this approach. Their interpretation of the song ‘Life is Life’ is an example of this art of appropriation in its best form. They turned the song from a banal anthem of joy into a serious, almost militaristic, reflection on power and authority.
Some would say it's vampirizing someone else's work, taking someone else's song and completely changing it. No, unlike regular covers, Laibach's process involves layered recontextualization. It is not only a musical reinterpretation, but also a philosophical and political deconstruction of the original meaning of the song. The concert ended with one of their latest covers, the song ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ by the band Foreigner. Now, if you're wondering why Laibach would choose a song that celebrates love in such a clichéd form, the answer is simple: their version of the song is not the sentimental ballad that Foreigner originally intended it to be. Instead, Laibach conveyed the message of love as something that transcends individual feelings. Love becomes a symbol of a bigger idea, love of ideology, love of people, or maybe love of control? Irony is key.
The lyrics of the song talk about the desire to understand love, but Laibach's performance does not make us wonder what kind of love they are actually talking about. Is it the intimate love that we all desire or is it the love of an authority that unites and directs us? I must also mention an old anecdote about Laibach that has been circulating since their beginnings in the former Yugoslavia. When they appeared, in the early '80s, their music, much more industrial than today, caused widespread outrage. It was even said that ‘Laibach killed punk.’ Although punk was a revolutionary movement, Laibach managed to redefine the term subversion through even more radical soundscapes and ideological commentary, while punk remained, in a way, trapped in its anti-establishment forms. If anything, Laibach took a bag full of punk rebellion and expanded it into philosophical and artistic terrain that few had the courage to touch.
Regardless of the conversations in the audience, the fact that it was not Pula and that the atmosphere was different, yesterday's concert in Boogaloo was a true example of what Laibach represents - a strong, provocative musical and visual statement about power, authority and irony. Their ability to transform and appropriate other people's songs is not just imitation, but a thought-provoking creative act.
Laibach are masters of reinterpretation, and as long as they continue to play on the border between art and politics, their oeuvre remains fascinating for anyone willing to read between the lines and listen between the notes.
Marko Vojnić
Lecturer, Department of Textile and Clothing Design
Faculty of Textile Technology
University of Zagreb
Prilaz baruna Filipovića 28a
10000 Zagreb, Hrvatska
https://www.ttf.unizg.hr/en/teachers-and-associates/marko-vojnic/166
The first wave of published histories of punk focused on the well-known bands and the larger cities, but since that time there has been an explosion of new information about smaller scenes and the bands that helped make those scenes. Of course, many zines in the past balanced a focus on the local with links to national and international punk, often via scene reports. However, the proliferation of personal websites, blogs, and social media outlets created opportunities for individuals to share their personal connections to historical punk and for people around the globe to learn about collective histories. We can read stories, see photos, and watch videos that document unique and common qualities of different scenes.
Marina Gržinić is a philosopher, theorist, and artist who splits here time between the Institute of Philosophy at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Ljubljana, Slovenia and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. She moved to Ljubljana at a time when punk was being discovered and inspiring some people in the former Yugoslavia to make their own scenes. She describes a unique scene in Ljubljana that was grounded in the politics of the time, where punks sought to both enact socialist ideals and resist some of the communist bloc norms. Photography and other visual arts were crucial features of the growing punk scene in Ljubljana and she actively participated in that scene through her work at the ŠKUC Gallery. Most recently, Marina has been involved with the curation of exhibitions that present the politics of Slovenian punk in the 1970s and 1980s as well as punk’s links to a variety of parallel socio-cultural shifts in Slovenia.
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Punk is a truly global phenomenon that manifests in myriad ways across many different scenes, musical styles, and political, cultural and social settings. As such, ‘punk’ is many things to many people and seldom remains static over a lifetime, with changes in connectivity and technology, economic and political globalisation impacting punk for better and worse. The current Punk Scholars Network series Global Punk has attempted to capture the spread and variance of punk across the world (Bestley, Dines, Gordon & Guerra 2019, 2020; Bestley, Dines, Gordon, Grimes & Guerra 2021). Moreover, the journal Punk & Post-Punk seeks contributions from punk scholars in a variety of geographical locations and settings.
With these efforts, and others, serving as a starting point the Punk Scholars Network are seeking to hold a conference that explores, examines and critically engages with punk scholars around the globe. Taking punk seriously as a theme means considering the variety of experiences within local, national and international punk communities, and this conference takes place against the backdrop of the global COVID-19 pandemic, making it still uncertain which parts will be face-to face and which parts will be solely online.
In keeping with the PSN’s wide ranging academic reach, we are seeking contributions from a range of interdisciplinary areas, including, but not limited to: cultural studies, musicology, ethnography, art and design, humanities, performing arts and the social sciences. Papers and panels could cover, but are not limited to, the following themes:
Globalisation of new media, communications, social networking, internet
Ethnographic considerations of scene/space and borders
In what ways do gender, ethnicity, race, sexuality, disability, class, religious beliefs and cultural norms shape punk?
Music and the performer: creativity, authorship, identity, problems with definition, crossing musical boundaries.
Reception: DIY culture, activism.
Lifestyle: crust punk, squatter, vegetarianism, animal rights, straight edge etc., within different cultural contexts.
The art of punk: record covers, concert flyers, fanzine design and associated graphic styles.
If you wish to take part, please submit your proposal to Solveig.serre@gmail.com; luc.robene@u-bordeaux.fr; and tim.a.heron@gmail.com
Proposals should be 350 words maximum (or equivalent, 3 minutes if a video clip for example) and proposed papers can be delivered in either French or English. Deadline 1st November 2021.
