THE ZONE CENTRAL BELT SCOTLAND 1982. IMAGE A. ANDERSON.
This is not an academic archive. Summary perspective of early 80s cassette culture experience from within the Central Belt.
Documentation of early 80s underground cassette scene graphic artwork, flyers, and cassette objects.
I have been working within cultural heritage research collections for over twenty years. I have photographed many culturally fundamental objects, art, and rare books. Among those I have photographed is Alexander Flemings original vials of penicillin mould a discovery which had a huge impact on humanity.
I have photographed the “Jami' al-Tawarikh, or Compendium of Chronicles, which is a world history which encompasses a range of cultures, from China in the East to Ireland in the West, Written by the scholar and courtier Rashid al-Din (d.1318).” I have photographed Incunabula from the infancy of printing including Biblia Germanica by Anton Koberger from 1483. I have photographed collections of Anatomy, Geology, Musical Instruments, Fine Art, and the life and death masks of felons and poets.
I was deeply involved in the early 80s cassette scene which has grown in significance over the last forty years. I see the cassettes and graphic artwork from this time as equally important culturally as the medieval manuscripts and artefacts I have photographed in a professional capacity. Early 80s cassette culture has only begun to be recognised by academic’s museums and galleries as having gravity and only by a few disparate individuals.
Early 80s cassette culture has been intensely harvested for wealth generation by private collectors who reprint, repress from tape to vinyl, and repackage in glossy foil embossed box sets for sales. These glittering new packages often significantly depart from the authenticity of the period the original art works are from.
I completely endorse renewed interest in cassette culture with a new focus on artists mostly forgotten or ignored. The collaborative work between Minimal Wave and 5XOD who worked together is a good example. They managed to harness something new with considered resolute graphics and an artist collated overview of their work.
There are some commercial
reproductions postured as archival documentation. However, they appear distant
from the essence of the cultural exchange that occurred in the early 80s.
The cassette scene came into existence born undeterred by economic censorship. Ironically It is now financially prohibitive to purchase original material as collectors have amassed multiple copies of significant productions forcing prices upwards and out of reach. We are forced to operate under the system of capitalism and economic censorship is the vile offspring of that system.
Having studied fine art to degree level at Glasgow School of Art and working within institutional education and libraries for the majority of my life, I am aware the history of art is predominantly the history of privileged financially prosperous individuals.
The cassette scene destroyed that legacy concept for a brief moment in time, it was liberating to those of us with limited resources. The invention of cassette tape meant we could distribute our ideas affordably with Letraset, scalpels, double sided tape, and photocopying using the postal system. We did not need family, the music business, or established institutions to finance ideas. To see cassette culture monetised to the extent of renewed exclusion is acutely noxious.
Medium format documentation can provide visual accuracy. The workflow from camera to screen and print output is hardware colour calibrated and lighting is controlled. Large medium format sensors capture upward of 100Mb data which produces a clear view of the material properties of the original. Images maximising object information will aid current and future generations form a better understanding of how these works evolved from the social and political conditions of the time.
For these reasons I found it important to document my collected works and experiences from this time. To share them in discernible detail for those who want to engage.
Alongside photographs of cassette tapes, graphics, flyers, and correspondence there are notes on meeting and working with various people heavily involved and invested in this “time that will never be repeated. It is raw and uncompromising, angry, and desolate, the antithesis of rock 'n' roll. Music by and for a blank generation.”
Malcolm Brown 2024.
The cassette scene came into existence born undeterred by economic censorship. Ironically It is now financially prohibitive to purchase original material as collectors have amassed multiple copies of significant productions forcing prices upwards and out of reach. We are forced to operate under the system of capitalism and economic censorship is the vile offspring of that system.
Having studied fine art to degree level at Glasgow School of Art and working within institutional education and libraries for the majority of my life, I am aware the history of art is predominantly the history of privileged financially prosperous individuals.
The cassette scene destroyed that legacy concept for a brief moment in time, it was liberating to those of us with limited resources. The invention of cassette tape meant we could distribute our ideas affordably with Letraset, scalpels, double sided tape, and photocopying using the postal system. We did not need family, the music business, or established institutions to finance ideas. To see cassette culture monetised to the extent of renewed exclusion is acutely noxious.
Medium format documentation can provide visual accuracy. The workflow from camera to screen and print output is hardware colour calibrated and lighting is controlled. Large medium format sensors capture upward of 100Mb data which produces a clear view of the material properties of the original. Images maximising object information will aid current and future generations form a better understanding of how these works evolved from the social and political conditions of the time.
For these reasons I found it important to document my collected works and experiences from this time. To share them in discernible detail for those who want to engage.
Alongside photographs of cassette tapes, graphics, flyers, and correspondence there are notes on meeting and working with various people heavily involved and invested in this “time that will never be repeated. It is raw and uncompromising, angry, and desolate, the antithesis of rock 'n' roll. Music by and for a blank generation.”
Malcolm Brown 2024.