Exhibition

Revolutionizing Fashion: The Politics of Style
Alumni Gallery April 12 to September 17, 2000
Anne Bissonnette, Curator
  

DEVO aluminum naugahyde suit, c. 1980
Custom-tailored naugahyde jacket and pants worn on the cover of the R.I.A.A. Certified-Platinum album "Freedom of Choice" and in the "Girl-U-Want" video for MTV.
Collection of Michael Pilmer, Raleigh, NC., L00.7.1ab

DEVO energy dome, c. 1980 (remade in 1988)
Cast from the original mold, this plastic Energy Dome was spray-painted red and fitted with band-member inserts for stage-use by Bob Mothersbaugh on the late '80's "Total Devo" Tour.
Collection of Jade Dellinger, Tampa, FL., L00.5.1

DEVO "classic collection" industrial suit and 3-D glasses, c. 1978
Reproduction elastic belt
Custom screen-printed "wet wear" TyvekŪ jacket and pants with plastic snaps. Autographed by Bob Casale, Jerry Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh and Mark Mothersbaugh. From the Devo Archives, L00.6.1abc

  
De-Evolution
    
Mark Mothersbaugh was an art student at Kent State University during the tragic shooting of protesting students by the National Guard on May 4th, 1970. An entire generation was left to reflect on the tragic event and Mothersbaugh's conclusion was that we were de-evolving. Influenced by the Dadaists, Andy Warhol and the 1973 English translation of a book titled The Beginning Was The End: How Man Came Into Being Through Cannibalism - Intelligence Can Be Eaten, Mothersbaugh collaborated on the short film "The Truth About De-Evolution" which was awarded a prize in the 1976 Ann Arbor Film Festival and became the basis for the band's abbreviated name. His band, DEVO, started in Akron in 1972, addressed the dehumanizing effect of modern technology while Mothersbaugh sang in the baby-faced mask of his alter ego "Booji Boy" to exemplify infantile regression.

 

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