Go Johnny Go

The sights and sounds of the wailing guitar will pound the walls for many months at Kunsthalle Vienna in a new show that runs from 24 Oct. to 7 March 2004 in hall 1 of the museum. Titled Go Johnny Go — The Electric Guitar: Art and Myth, the exhibition traces the significance of the guitar in art, global youth culture and as a symbol of protest from the early 1960s to the present.
With the guitar as the object of fetish, the show follows it closely as it makes its appearance in history of the visual arts, weaving its way through Pop Art, the “Neuen Wilden” of the 1980s and their punk styles, down to the younger generation of artists. As a special treat, 80 classical guitar models representing the instrument’s diverse design history are being presented. Visitors can check out the emblematic Fender Stratocaster as well as Prince’s eccentric custom-made job.
Of course a show of this kind would not be complete without all the usual cultural ephemera (photos, posters, newspaper clippings, album covers, advertising). The guitar as logo in public space and it’s use in the “sexualizing” of male rock stars like Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page and in women’s guitar counterhistory, from Memphis Minnie to Kathleen Hannah,
also provide filler to what promises to be an entertaining jam session.
Participating artists range from Serbian artist Uros Djuric and Sonic Youth to David Hockney.

01.02.2003