- The Camden gallery, which has existed on an online archive since 2015, will open in December.
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London will soon be home to a first-of-its-kind Museum of Youth Culture (MOYC).
Set to open in December, the Camden gallery–located in a 6,500 square-foot space on St. Pancras Campus—will collect ephemera gathered from the past 100 years: zines, rave flyers, photography, archival video, clothing, books and even sound systems. An exact opening date remains TBA
It’s the first permanent brick-and-mortar site for the Museum of Youth Culture (MOYC). which has existed as an online collection since 2015. The new physical space will feature three galleries: two with a rotating selection from the MOYC’s archive, and one dedicated to showing new work from young artists. The museum also boasts a music production suite.
According to MOYC’s creative director, Jamie Brett, the idea to find a physical home for the archive came after a realisation “that youth culture had been completely left out of Britain’s heritage story.”
“Teenagers have been the driving force behind subcultures, transmitting new ideas around music, fashion and self-expression for over seventy years, yet they’re still missing from the national narrative,” Brett told Resident Advisor. “We think that something incredible happens in that space between between childhood and adulthood and it deserves to be represented on the national stage.”
One of Brett’s favourite exhibits in the museum is the pairing of an original 1989 The Sun cover that bemoaned then-nascent acid house and rave culture in the city, vocalising a larger moral panic around the scene. It’s displayed right next to a flyer for the very party that inspired the article, the Midsummer Night’s Rave in Lydd Airport near the M25.
“Together they tell that story of how youth culture is often misunderstood before it’s celebrated and how those reactions become part of the story itself,” Brett explained.
Browse some images from the Museum of Youth Culture’s archive, and learn more by visiting its website.
Photos (top to bottom): Normski, Michelle Sank, Giles Moberly, Alexander Apperly, Tony Davis
Header Photo: Museum of Youth Culture
