A Brief History Of Rock And Roll

(© 2014 Sven Laurent - Let me shoot for you)

Allen Ruppersberg is a US conceptual artist who made a name for himself in the late Sixties – and is clearly a child of his time. He often works, for example on – at times psychedelic – posters, as in the one for which he reworked Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” as concrete poetry. He is also known for Al’s Café, a cafe that – a few decades before that kind of thing became fashionable – he conceived as an art installation; later, he followed it up with Al’s Grand Hotel. So we’re talking art with a considerable rock ‘n’ roll content – as you can see from the new exhibition of his work at Wiels. In it, Ruppersberg is exhibiting no fewer than 3,000 documents from his gigantic archive of newspaper articles, posters, and other relics relating to rock and roll. He has attached these, in plastic sleeves, to large perforated panels from a DIY shop. Via five themes, he tells the history of rock and roll in this way. Under the heading of “Fun”, for example, we see images of dancing couples, of a group of musicians at a bar, and of an ecstatic James Brown. The subject of religion is tackled too, as gospel music had such an important influence on the emergence of rock and roll. An obituary of Johnny Cash hangs alongside photographs of Elvis Presley’s funeral and of a choir singing, as well as photocopies of a hymn book. All livened up by a series of cardboard boxes with colourful prints of musicians and instruments. Ruppersberg not only presents an outline history of rock and roll, but also a sociological and historical portrait: the “Home” section, for example, includes, among other things, photographs of typical US houses of the 1950s – occasionally with a Cadillac outside the door. In addition to a series of older works, variations on Honey, I Rearranged the Collection, the exhibition comes with a soundtrack of no fewer than 127 tracks selected by the artist. Sitting in a comfortable chair, alongside thick folders with yet more photographs from his archives, you can play a song of your choice. So after Al’s Café and Al’s Grand Hotel, we now have Al’s jukebox.

Allen Ruppersberg: No Time Left to Start Again and Again > 17/8, wo/me/We > zo/di/Su 11 > 18.00, €8, Wiels, avenue Van Volxemlaan 354, Vorst/Forest, 02-340.00.53, www.wiels.org