Image: Sílvia Resorte
Shown last year in Italy, the exhibition Hard Core Punk Anni ’80 is a collection curated by Michele ‘Barox’ D’Alessio* about the punk youth movement in Turin in the 80s, and we wanted to bring it to Barcelona. But we also wanted this to be the perfect excuse for us to talk about (and celebrate) the same scene in our own city, and so we have come up with the 80’s Hardcore Punk Symposium at the Antic. The existing visuals, as the main pillar for this convocation, will be accompanied by graphic material from the hardcore punk movement during the same period in Barcelona. While the Turin-based content is provided by Michele, drummer for legendary band Negazione, the Barcelona-based content will be provided by Boliche, drummer for the no-less-legendary local band Subterranean Kids. The resulting combination will be the exhibition Torino/Barcelona Hardcore-Punk anys 80. In the context of the exhibition, which will run from April 4 to 6, we will be presenting a series of parallel activities: concerts, talks, documentary screenings, sales of HC material by local distributors, vegan food court, etc.
PROGRAMME
Friday April 4, 2025
3pm to 10pm Photographic exhibition: Torino/Barcelona: Expo Hardcore Punk Als Anys 80’s. This exhibition is a way of connecting with an international network of friends based on shared values and a do-it-yourself attitude. Turin, Barcelona, Berlin and other major European cities that were key to the Hardcore Punk movement. Photographs: Mario Spesso, Lija Friedman, Helge Schreiber, Anne Ulrich, Winni Wintermeyer, Andrea Gallinini, Guido Harari, Bodo’s project, Andrea “Pippo” Penco, Claudia Schewe and Boliche. Showing in the Bar at Antic Teatre.
4pm Opening event for the symposium with organisers: Michele Barox (Negazione, Turin), Boliche (Subterranean Kids, Barcelona), Semolina (Poppins) y Silenzio (Feria Vegana). In the auditorium at Antic Teatre.
4.30pm to 6pm Torino è la mia città – Talk about the punk movement in Turin, when the search was for places in which to share dreams, rage, organise concerts and self-manage life. With Michele Barox (Negazione), Mini (Bedbois) and Boliche (Subterranean Kids). In the auditorium at Antic Teatre.
4.30pm to 9.30pm Concert featuring: MALESTAT, TRONERS, YRASCIBLE and DEAD PEOPLE. At Palau Alòs, c/ Sant Pere Més Baix 55
10pm Post-Concert: DJ set with Michele Barox. At the Gran Torino, Pl. del Duc de Medinaceli 6
Saturday April 5, 2025
1.30pm to 10pm Photographic exhibition: Torino/Barcelona: Expo Hardcore Punk Als Anys 80’s. Showing in the Bar at Antic Teatre.
1.30pm to 9pm Musical aperitif served by Michele Barox. At Antic Teatre.
1.30pm to 9pm Punk market: records, books and t-shirts. Food stall by Barcelona Vegan Fair. On the terrace at Antic Teatre.
2.30pm Book presentation: HARTO DE TODO. Historia oral del Punk en la ciudad de Barcelona 1979-1987 by the author, Jordi Llansamà. Jordi Llansamà (Barcelona, 1967) became involved in Barcelona’s punk scene as a teenager. Since that time, he has remained active in and around the field of music, from the publication of fanzines (Lo Kurkó de Les Korts, Reptil Zine, Absolut Zine) to radio collaborations (Atac de Core, Radio Pica). He is also notable for organising some of the first concerts in Barcelona by international bands before they were famous, such as: Green Day, At the Drive In, June of 44, Hot Water Music, Less Savy Fav, The Locust, Karate, etc. In 1990 he founded record label BCore Disc, which has been going strong for over 30 years. This label has released the works of bands such as Corn Flakes, Aina, Standstill, The Unfinished Sympathy, Tokyo Sex Destruction, The New Raemon, Brighton 64, Delorean, Nueva Vulcano, Madee, Cala Vento, etc., some of which have been and are flagbearers in the local independent music scene. Also notable is his work as a musical archaeologist, re-releasing and rescuing from oblivion many recordings from the first punk and hardcore productions from Barcelona in the 80s. In the auditorium at Antic Teatre.
4pm Documentary screening: ITALIAN PUNK HARDCORE 1980 – 1989 by Lovehate80 (Original version with subtitles in Spanish, 118 min). In the auditorium at Antic Teatre.
6.15pm Book presentation: Que pagui Pujol! Una crònica punk de la Barcelona dels 80 by the author, Joni D.. Joni D.: born just months before the insurrectional explosion of Paris 1968, his restless mind and belief in self-management have led him to experiment with and develop a range of cultural and artistic creative forms. Identifying with the punk and libertarian movements, at the end of 2010 he published his first book, Que pagui Pujol! Una crònica punk de la Barcelona dels 80 (which has run to five editions in Spanish and Catalan). The book gathered together his youthful memories and was highly acclaimed by the public. As he himself explained subsequently, the main aim of the book was as an experiment to see whether he could write before attempting – or not – his second opus, Grups Autònoms. Una crònica armada de la Transacció democràtica (El Lokal, 2013). In 2015 he published, now with Tigre de Paper, his first novella, La Torre de la Serra, where he uses fiction to go over some of the historical events that have left their mark on him, and which have sequels in La Casa de la Selva and La noia del pantà. In the auditorium at Antic Teatre.
Sunday April 6, 2025
1.30pm to 10pm Photographic exhibition: Torino/Barcelona: Expo Hardcore Punk Als Anys 80’s. Showing in the Bar at Antic Teatre.
1.30pm to 9pm Musical aperitif served by Michele Barox. At Antic Teatre.
1.30pm to 9pm Punk market: records, books and t-shirts. Food stall by Barcelona Vegan Fair. On the terrace at Antic Teatre.
4pm Screening of the episode: Skate, hardcore y okupacion en Los 80’s from the series Fanzilona (28′). A few years after punk first appeared in Barcelona came hardcore, a musical evolution where rhythms were speeded up and with a new intention in the lyrics. The local youth picked up on this and new music bands appeared with a new look and different ways of doing and thinking. Fanzilona: 50 years of alternative culture in Barcelona. Inspired by fanzines, this documentary series is the creation of Zosen Bandido, Miquel Ardèvol and Eric de Gispert and depicts artistic creation and alternative culture in Barcelona from the end of the 70s to date. Comix, graffiti, skate, punk, hardcore, ska, social movements, gentrification and new generations of artists are, among others, the subjects covered in chronological order over the various episodes. In the auditorium at Antic Teatre.
4.30pm Round table/discussion on the documentary Skate, Hardcore y Okupación en los 80’s with author Zosen Bandido, Joni D., Boliche and Semolina. In the auditorium at Antic Teatre.
5.30pm Documentary screening: A como Anarquía by Angelo Rastelli (32′). Episode on Italian anarcho-punks extracted from a television series on punk from Italy. In the auditorium at Antic Teatre.
About the exhibition Hard Core Punk Anni ’80
“The past is full of surprises…” Punk is not just music: punk is an attitude, punk is a way of life, and it is the choices we made in the past that will determine each of our futures, in a bloody contest between what we were and what we will be.
Turin, the Italian motor city: cutting-edge technology, grey skies, factories and boredom. In the 80s, the long shadow of the “anni di piombo” still lay over this city of bosses and workers. For some, freedom meant living at the margins, and it was these, the ones dissatisfied with the status quo, who undermined the foundations of the Turin = automobiles equation, transforming the city into one of the most prolific and important sources of youth movements in the Old World. In the 80s, these young people turned their meeting places into their salvation and their hope. The village square where they drank beer and exchanged tapes and fanzines was no longer enough; they needed places where they could share dreams and rage, where they could give vent to their anger in damp basements turned into rehearsal studios, screaming into microphones. Rage expressed in the dry riff of an electric guitar and rage scrawled on the posters for concerts and demonstrations against the system they would not bow down to. Against the system. Their dream was to change the world, or at least to try.
This exhibition, curated by Michele ‘Barox’ d’Allesio, is dedicated to the emerging punk youth movement of Turin in the 80s when he himself was expressing his rage on the skins as the drummer of punk band Negazione. The same rage that made him, before he turned 20, board a train from Turin to Berlin and tour with the legendary band. His experience of Berlin impressed him so much and so deeply that before long before he moved there for good, and remains a Berlin resident to this day.
The exhibition features photographs from the book Collezioni di attimi edited by DeeMo and published by Goodfellas, as well as photographs of other bands from the Italian HC scene, records, flyers, posters and mementoes of the years 1983-1991.
Negazione date from the first generation of Italian hardcore alongside bands such as Declino, Raw Power and Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers, becoming one of the most influential of the hardcore bands. These Italian groups were the first European Punk bands outside of England, influenced by US hardcore, but they played faster and harder, and were more radical and political in their lyrics; they were also noticeably different from traditional punk in terms of fashion.
This exhibition is an act of collective memory from all those who lived through this period. At the same time, it is dedicated to those who weren’t around then, those who left us too soon and those who have not yet been born.
“The past is full of surprises….”
Michele ‘Barox’ D’Alessio *
*Michele ‘Barox’ D’Alessio’s close links with Antic Teatre are longstanding, from the organisation of the legendary B2B festivals (Barcelona to Berlin and vice-versa) at the Adriantic, to his input as DJ at many house parties and events.
About the 80’s Hardcore Punk Symposium at Antic
At the end of the 70s, but mostly at the beginning of the 80s, following the great British punk explosion and in the wake of protopunk bands from the US such as The Stooges, The New York Dolls or The Ramones, another musical term leaped to the forefront.
Hardcore.
It described something hard, extreme… and, in terms of music, rage, speed, and critical lyrics.
One more style under the great umbrella of the word Punk.
Across the length and breadth of the planet, in every country in the world, there emerged bands with few means but much enthusiasm and the desire to changing everything.
CIRCLE JERKS, DOA, SEPTIC DEATH, DRI, DECLINO, WRETCHED, INDIGESTI, BGK, INFERNO, RAZZIA, BLUT+EISEN, UBR, TERVEET KADET, SUBHUMANS, SO MUCH HATE…
A prime example was the band MDC (who visited Barcelona in the mid-80s). It was a privilege to be able to see them at their best moment, as they blew minds with their music but also with their lyrics and attitude.
Originally from Austin, Texas, they moved to San Francisco because of political pressure, self-releasing their own material and touring the entire country, as well as Europe on numerous occasions.
Their lyrics denounced fascist attitudes, defended community and self-management rights, veganism, the LGTBQ struggle, and opposed multinationals; they made a deep impact on our local Punk scene.
The result was that many bands caught the bug, changing their style and emulating MDC, among others.
Two such examples, from different locations but during the same period, are Negazione from Turin and Subterranean Kids, our home-grown representative.
We can confirm that this style, or way of life, remains healthily active today.
On Friday 4, Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 of April 2025, we can enjoy a range of activities at the Antic Teatre dedicated to the hardcore punk of the 80s, with exhibitions on both bands, a concert, and previously unreleased material, talks, sales, vegan food…
A great opportunity for lovers of the genre to get together, rediscover, remember, and find self-published material from the various distributors in the city.
Boliche
