Video Killed the Radio Star

Show & Culture

From the rise of neoliberalism under Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan to the final tremors of the Cold War, the 1980s marked a fundamental turning point in Western culture with the emergence of postcolonial, queer, and feminist discourses. This pivotal period was shaped by paradoxes magnified by images and hypermediation, as pop culture intersected with the impact of new technologies. Drawing from the Mudam collection, international loans, and archival documents, "Video Killed the Radio Star: The 1980s and Their Cultural Echoes" revisits the 'long 1980s', a key period where images took precedence over words and aesthetics gained new political and cultural power. On the occasion of Mudam’s twentieth anniversary, the exhibition questions cultural evolutions, their resonance today, and the dialogue between contemporary history, artistic practices, and archives.