The Sixties – A Worldwide Happening exhibition can be seen from 16 October 2015 to 13 March 2016.
On 16 October The Sixties – A Worldwide Happening exhibition opens in the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. The exhibition offers a global view of the 1960s, an era when globalization as we know it first appeared. Visitors will be surprised by the trans-border connections which have never been presented in this way before.
This year it is precisely 50 years ago that the Provo movement was founded in the Netherlands. But the significance of the exciting sixties went far beyond the movements in the Netherlands. All round the world it was a period of enormous social, political and cultural impact. In fashion, music, design and upbringing, signs of the extensive changes that were instigated in the sixties are still evident.
Today’s world builds on the icons of yesterday
The Sixties – A Worldwide Happening is an exhibition which makes the 1960s feel amazingly close and recognizable because today’s world builds on the icons of yesterday. Arranged around several themes characteristic of the era, the exhibition shows how changes worldwide were expressed in graphic design, fashion, music, architecture, photography and media.
You can admire many legendary items, such as some of Jimi Hendrix’s clothes, Yves Saint Laurent’s Mondrian dress, space-look fashion by Pierre Cardin and Paco Rabanne, and one of Mary Quant’s first miniskirts. There’s also work by the world-famous photographers Richard Avedon, Leonard Freed, James Barnor and Malick Sidibé. Smells, images and typically sixties design take visitors back in time.
Cultural exchange
Owing to the growing role of the media more and more people have an impression of the wider world, resulting in influence and exchange. The Black Power Movement in the United States, for example, was inspired by the sense of pride and self-determination that prevailed in recently independent African countries.
Thousands of young people travelled from Amsterdam to India and Afghanistan following the so-called hippie trail. The originally British miniskirt was also a fashion ideal in Thailand and Nigeria. And vice versa, Eastern cultures were a source of inspiration to British and French fashion designers.
