Revolutions: Records and Rebels

Melbourne Museum brings internationally acclaimed exhibition Revolutions: Records and Rebels exclusively to Australia this April, exploring the momentous impact of the late 1960s upon life today. Presale tickets to this major exhibition are now on sale.

Originating from the world's leading museum of art and design, Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, Revolutions: Records and Rebels investigates the way youth culture and collective action catalysed seismic shifts in the Western world across five revolutionary years: 1966 – 70.

More than 500 objects from the V&A and Museums Victoria's own collection alongside significant international loans will take visitors on an immersive ride through the events, music, voices and technological advancements that defined the cultural and political vanguard of the period - from the fashion, art and pop-scene of Swinging London, to anti-Vietnam War protests, to the fight for civil rights and recognition of Australia's First Peoples in the 1967 referendum, to communal moments such as Woodstock and Sunbury.

Highlights on display include John Lennon's iconic glasses and the suit worn on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the original illustration of the Beatles' "Revolutions" artwork and handwritten lyrics for "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"; Mick Jagger's signature stage costume and a guitar smashed on stage by The Who's Pete Townsend.

Victoria Broackes, Co-curator, (or Senior Curator, V&A) says "The exhibition was not conceived as a trip down memory lane, but looking back fifty years since the events framed in the exhibition took place, reveals the importance of that revolutionary period to our lives today. Amidst political turmoil, many of the freedoms so hard won in the 60s are being challenged anew across the Western world (and beyond), so it is timely to look back at this period and reflect on the sort of world we want to live in today and to create for ourselves tomorrow."

"So many of the freedoms that we take for granted today came about because of the rebels and rule-breakers from previous generations," comments Museums Victoria CEO and Director, Lynley Crosswell. "Revolutions: Records and Rebels continues Museums Victoria's commitment to presenting world-class exhibitions. By connecting audiences with this brief, iconoclastic period in our recent past, we hope to inspire them to consider the role they might play in shaping our future."

Throughout the show music will be played through Sennheiser headsets using innovative audio guide technology which adapts the sound to the visitor's position in the gallery. From Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'" to The Who's "My Generation" to Jimi Hendrix live at Woodstock, sound will be integrated with video and moving image, including interviews with key figures from the period, psychedelic light shows and seminal films to create a fully immersive and dramatic audiovisual experience.

Revolutions: Records and Rebels offers an unmissable chance to traverse the foundations of our present. In Hunter S. Thompson's words, "Buy the ticket, take the ride."

REVOLUTIONS: RECORDS AND REBELS
Saturday April 27 - Sunday August 25
Melbourne Museum, 11 Nicholson Street, Carlton
Presented in partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum and Sennheiser