Questions of identity play an important role in Goth, making it a typically modern phenomenon. As modern human beings, we constantly ask ourselves: who am I? Where do I belong? Many Goths pursue the ultimate self-expression: with outfits they carefully make or piece together themselves and extreme hair styles and makeup, they claim a place outside everyday life. The flirtation with darkness, with the freak show, is liberating: an outsider has no reason to worry about what others think.
Conversely, the subculture represents a community in its own right: like-minded people who meet in clubs and at festivals, or who share their favourite music and outfits online. It is a style composed of distinctive elements and historical examples, which means it remains unique and yet familiar. With its opulent mourning dresses and weathered tombs, the 19th century is an important source of inspiration for romantic Goths. Reuse and reinterpretation lend the past a macabre, Gothic edge, enabling anyone to design their own darkness.
“I don’t live in darkness; darkness lives in me” — Popular meme found on Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram and T-shirts
The romantic quest for personal identity has a long history. In the 19th century too, the Gothic was a battlefield for the great questions of identity, the individual and the community. Designers and artists adopted the ‘Gothic’ past of the Middle Ages as an example for an ideal society of their own. Such interpretations of the Gothic were not necessarily dark, and could also be decidedly conservative. Yet each in its own way pursued a romantic re-enchantment of the world. Goth is where the Gothic Revival’s fascination for identity merges with the darkness of the Gothic novel.
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So Posthuman (3): Monstrous humans and human monsters
Afgerukte ledematen, ontbindende lijken en afstotelijke monsters. Net als in het posthumanisme staat in gothic het lichaam centraal. Toevallig? Volgens curator Tomas van den Heuvel niet.
The dark mirror of the soul
From the exhibition: a sublime nature in this sense features prominently in the Gothic tradition, not only as a setting for elusive mysteries or unspeakable secrets, but also as a protagonist in its own right.
An invented past
From the exhibition: in the Gothic tradition, historyis exaggerated, twisted or straightforwardly invented. The past on which Goth is based is an intoxicating mixture of fantasy and reality.
Atmosphere over form
From the exhibition: The Goth tradition allows you to mix imagery, symbols and styles to your heart’s content. The result is an emphatic atmosphere, which stimulates the imagination and creates darkness. Goth isn’t a style in the traditional sense but a feeling.
The theatre of authenticity
From the exhibition: Goth eagerly pursues a sense of authenticity and is not afraid to evoke it artificially.
Dark technology
From the exhibition: new technologies help to visualize the dark sense of life in constantly changing ways, although it is frequently the shortcomings of such technology – scratches on the film or fading of the photograph – that give a ‘Gothic feel’ to an image.
The haunted city
From the exhibition: the threatening, impersonal and all-consuming metropolis shaped the Gothic imagination of this uncertain period. It is a form of the Gothic where fear of the future becomes entangled with the dread of the past.
Alternatieve stereotypes
From the exhibition: the Goth subculture experiments like no other with gender, sexuality and style, finding new meanings for old stereotypes through endless combinations.
