Hacker Cinema
Downtown '81
2001 · Film · 72 min
Directed by Edo Bertoglio
The film is a day in the life of a young artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who needs to raise money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into.
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Basquiat in particular requires knowledge of 1970s-80s New York, the birth of hip-hop culture and graffiti, the art world, and a whole lot of other things. In short, Basquiat is appreciated because he was a visceral, anti-establishment, extremely young guy whose work was raw and real, in comparison to the somewhat corporatized minimal aesthetic [1] that was popular at the time. He was also a really good storyteller (most famous artists are) and crafted a great narrative around his life.
Basquiat's work is basically "80s NYC" in high art form. There was so much creativity coming out of the city at that time, it was really magical, especially compared to Lower Manhattan today.
If I had to make a tech world comparison, it might be something like early Apple Computer against IBM. Hippies in garages vs. the suits.
The film Basquiat is pretty good dramatization of his life. So is Downtown 81, which is a creative film starring Basquiat himself. Both are on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn1Q44H2QyE&list=PL411118_g6AQsUKSzdBF0pJGyuN49iaXL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6ibOFlSM6o
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimalism_(visual_arts)
which is largely based in gradual urban decay and eventually the default.
Indeed. NYC in the '70s and '80s was a dangerously magical (and magically dangerous) place.
Some good resources:
VH1's (no, seriously) "NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1080761/)
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever (http://www.amazon.com/Love-Goes-Buildings-Fire-ebook/dp/B0051O9YCU/)
I'd be interested in anyone can recommend good books or movies about the NYC art scene of the late '70s or '80s. (I've seen Downtown 81; it's good, but not a documentary. It does capture the downtown NYC of that time, though.)
The whole loft scene was a result of squatting in empty industrial facilities, thanks to economic downturn.