La Movida at HOME

“If you lived in the 80s and remember it, then you didn’t live it.”

This popular Spanish saying encapsulates the explosive hedonism that characterised the artistic and socio-cultural movement La Movida (literally “the movement”) of post-Franco Spain; in the period 1977-1985, the country sought to redress the cultural delay that had resulted from Franco’s reign. Open debate, clubbing, drugs, gay rights, sexual freedom and more were the keynotes during the transition to democracy. Now, HOME’s latest major exhibition presents a contemporary reflection on the movement and moment of La Movida.

Part of ¡Viva! Spanish & Latin American Festival 2017, La Movida includes new commissions reacting to the time period, alongside existing international works that explore the related themes of freedom and excess. The exhibition and its related films, performance and literature present a re-imaging of a movement with a strong contemporary artistic and socio-political resonance today.