9 – 12 June 2021, University of Sussex
Inspired and curated by Vivienne Westwood’s Intellectuals Unite, The Subcultures Network and The Youth Club museum are occupying a strand of the festival. We take our inspiration from Vivienne Westwood’s Manifesto Intellectuals Unite.
Westwood may have initially made her name associated with the first wave of Punk, but the Manifesto, environmental activism and Intellectuals Unite are not backwards looking nostalgia. Westwood instead invites us to recognise each other as Intellectuals in its broadest possible scope – if you think, if you march, if you look at art or read books you are an intellectual.
Over the last year Vivienne’s salon, Intellectuals Unite became moved onto Instagram for live bookclub events. We have put together a few events inspired by the conversations that we have had over the last year.
We have been particularly interested in taking our conversations beyond the usual academic conversation – universities have been pretty bad at noticing that people are perfectly capable of talking about big, ideas, connecting to the past and each other through culture. In the context of the current assault on arts and humanities funding across the board we wanted to put together a group of events inspired by literature and stories, across different sectors.
Remember to book your place online https://sussexfestivalofideas.co.uk/
Three events
We Are All Intellectuals June 9th 2021, 12.30 pm
During lockdown Vivienne Westwood’s regular Salon ‘Intellectuals Unite’ became an instagram book club #IOUBookclub. Together a panel of associated with #IOU will share how books have helped them make sense of the present, connect with the past and build a community of resilience by sharing stories about stories.
Putting ourselves into the Museum of Youth Culture June 11th 2021, 11 am
We will be writing ourselves into the history of youth culture. The Museum of Youth Culture are an emerging museum dedicated to the styles, sounds and social movements innovated by young people over the last 100 years. Originally developed from the archives of YOUTH CLUB, a non-profit Heritage Funded collection incorporating over 150,000 photographs, ephemera and educational texts from over 400 photographers and writers celebrating youth culture history.In this workshop Lisa Der Weduwe and the Museum of Youth Culture they will invite you to show and share your photographs of your own youth, put yourself into the archive, and share your stories.
Punk women: Memoirs and biographies June 12th 2021, 1pm In 2016
Viv Albertine took a sharpie and wrote herself back into the History of Punk by adding her name to the history board of the British Library’s exhibition to mark the 40th anniversary of Punk. In this panel we will explore the ongoing ways in which women have written themselves into the history of punk using their life stories. Celeste Belle and Zoe Howe collaborated to produce Dayglo: The Poly Styrene story, and the recent documentary Poly Styrene: I’m a Cliche about Celeste’s mother. Together they will explore how women can write themselves and each other into Punk history, and how women get written out in the first place.
Our sister event is Rave Today! June 10th 2021 10 am
Join a panel of Sussex students and scholars as they explore the rich and varied relationships between UK rave and academic research: from sonic intimacies to subcultural studies, artists’ memorials to DIY methodologies. Speakers include: Dr Ben Burbridge, Dr Malcolm James, Professor Lucy Robinson, and Dr Chris Warne.