The 40th anniversary of the first ever Sex Pistols concert at the old Central Saint Martins on Charing Cross road is celebrated with a series of events this Friday.
CSM is hosting an evening of talks, films, music and art. Working in collaboration with Paul Gorman, Be Reasonable Demand the Impossible will celebrate punk culture and its abiding influence on fashion, music, writing film and art & design. Influential speakers including Glen Matlock, bass guitarist in the Sex Pistols, Keith Levene guitarist from PiL and The Clash and Sebastian Conran, Designer, will focus on the ongoing influence of punk visionary and Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren. This event will kick off a year-long series of events at CSM focusing on punk, art schools and DIY culture.
Open to all UAL students and staff, plus invited guests. View the full line up below – please note that entry into the talks is based on a first come first served basis.
Artlyst blogger Keith Levene who was an original member of The Clash and later PiL (Public Image Ltd.) will be giving a talk on punk, art schools and DIY 5.30 – 6.30pm | E003 | Clinton Heylin – in conversation on Punk and 1976 the year Zero (prolific music historian, wrote Babylon’s Burning: From Punk to Grunge) Keith is still actively creating art and music. Keith is also hosting an event at the Palace Hotel in Manchester titled Keith Levene’s London 1976 on Saturday 14 November. It will celebrate Art, Music, Design, & culture of this quintessentially British period of creativity.
The evening also features “A revolution of everyday life”: the role of the art school in punk. In this introduction Paul Gorman, John Beck, Matthew Cornford and Jeremy Till discuss the role of the art schools in the genesis of punk and its ongoing importance in the physical and cultural landscape. We wanted only those who cared”: the events of November 6 1975. Film: Danny Kleinman on the events of November 6, 1975. CSM alumni Sebastian Conran and Glen Matlock talk to Paul Gorman and Paul Burgess about the events of the evening of November 6 1975. Also in this session a short film gives Danny Kleinman’s version of events, setting the record straight on the scuffle with his own art-school group Bazooka Joe which set the Pistols on the path to infamy. Malcolm McLaren’s 1975-76 Notebook. Paul Burgess presents for the first time publicly pages from the notebook in his extensive collection in which McLaren pondered band names and line-ups for groups including Chrissie Hynde, Richard Hell and Johnny Thunders and listed college and club bookings for the Pistols and suppliers of clothing for Sex at 430 King’s Road.
“Certain relics”: the lasting influence. Film: 1981-3 MM/VW catwalk show films x 3 (first ever public screening). Paul Gorman with Ben Reardon, Dean Mayo Davies and Lou Stoppard discuss the design and legacy of Malcom McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s clothing, including unseen footage of fashion shows from the late 1970s and early 1980s.