Curator and CalArts professor Michael Worthington discusses the exhibition Torn Apart: Punk, New Wave + the Graphic Aftermath, 1976–86 . Michael will highlight a selection of ephemera from the show including posters, clothing, flyers, zines, buttons and stickers, with a focus on graphic design and typography. Sitting alongside the familiar lo-fi cut ’n’ paste irreverent aesthetics of Punk, the idiosyncratic styles of New Wave and Post-Punk offer a visual diversity that reflects a broad range of musical styles and avant-garde ideas. Equal parts nostalgia, novelty, discovery and inspiration, the presentation documents the visual explosion that occurred when Punk as a formative subculture was born, and tracks the journey as Punk imploded, producing an aftershock of a thousand shards still piercing design culture today.

This event will be livestreamed on the Index Public Square (our homepage), but you can register to join on Zoom.

Organized with designer Jonathan Maghen who lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Watch the recording of this event here.

Michael Worthington is the founding partner of Counterspace design studio in Los Angeles, and Co-Director of the Graphic Design Program at CalArts. He curated the design shows “Two Lines Align” and “Inside Out & Upside Down” at REDCAT. His writing has been published in Eye, Print, Slanted, and Threaded magazines, and various design books. Michael runs the Graphic Design Poster Archive at CalArts, he edited and published the book Inside Out & Upside Down: Posters from CalArts 1980–2019. He has taught at the California Institute of the Arts since 1995.

Choose to pay the amount you can afford—or sign up for free. Your donation will fund this and future free Index programming. We really appreciate your support!