''Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore'' is a 1999

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

by British contemporary artist

Mark Leckey Mark Leckey (born 1964) is a British contemporary artist. His found object art and video pieces, which incorporate themes of nostalgia and anxiety, and draw on elements of pop culture, span several works and exhibitions. In particular, he is kn ...

Background

''Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore'' came out of a discussion between Gavin Brown, Martin McGeown and Leckey. They were at a gallery private view in London, and Emma Dexter, then a curator at the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an modernism, artistic and cultural centre on The Mall (London), The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps a ...

(ICA), talked to Leckey. He argued that the most exciting art form of the time was the music video, and intrigued, Dexter invited him to make a work demonstrating it. It was later first screened at the ICA.Mark Beasly, ''Frieze'', Issue 136, January 2011.
The title, Leckey said, was about the notion that "something as trite and throwaway and exploitative as a jeans manufacturer (

Fiorucci Fiorucci () is an Italian fashion label founded by Elio Fiorucci in 1967. The first Fiorucci shop exposed Milan to the styles of Swinging London and to American classics, such as the T-shirt and jeans. By the late 1970s, the direction of stylis ...

) can be taken by a group of people and made into something totemic, and powerful, and life-affirming."

Synopsis

''Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore'' is collaged from tape footage from 70s, 80s and 90s underground dance scene in the UK, including portions of footage from the 1977

Tony Palmer Anthony or Tony Palmer may refer to: * Anthony Palmer (VC), English recipient of the Victoria Cross * Anthony Palmer (British Army officer) (born 1949), deputy chief of the Defence Staff * Tony Palmer (director) (born 1941), British film director ...

film The Wigan Casino. It starts with the disco scene of the 1970s, touches upon the

Northern soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

of the late 1970s and early 1980s and climaxes with the rave scene of the 1990s; the mashup soundtrack Leckey created for the film follows the same temporal structure as a soundscape, with him occasionally interjecting dialogue. Notably, at one point, an animated element - a bird tattoo image - appears as if released from the hand of a dancer, then carried into the next shot finds its place on the arm of another of the film's nightclubbing subjects. The film follows a looping structure, bookending itself with a low frame rate

time-lapse Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and th ...

shot of clouds.

Legacy

Charlotte Higgins, writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', remarked that "''Fiorucci'' changed the game."

Jamie xx James Thomas Smith (born 28 October 1988), known professionally as Jamie xx, is an English musician, DJ, record producer, and remixer. He is known for both his solo work and as a member of the indie pop band the xx. He has been described as a " ...

sampled dialogue from the film, including Leckey reciting the names of fashion brands, on " All Under One Roof Raving".

The Avalanches The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group formed in Melbourne in 1997. They have released three studio albums, ''Since I Left You'' (2000), ''Wildflower (The Avalanches album), Wildflower'' (2016), and ''We Will Always Love You'' ...

also sampled dialogue on "Overcome" from their 2020 album

We Will Always Love You ''We Will Always Love You'' is the third studio album from Australian electronic group The Avalanches, released on 11 December 2020 through Modular Recordings. Background The Avalanches (Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi) released their second s ...

. In July 2018, Leckey's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

upload of ''Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore'' was temporarily taken down by

FremantleMedia Fremantle Limited (), formerly FremantleMedia, is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. The company was founded as Pearson Television in 1993 when publishing and education company Pearson ...

, but was reactivated two days later. On October 4, 2019, Leckey created a "ghosted" version of ''Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore'' to mark its 20th anniversary.

Notes

References

{{Reflist Video art 1990s avant-garde and experimental films British avant-garde and experimental short films 1990s English-language films