The World of Music Video

Music videos are signs of our times, integral parts of contemporary culture, available worldwide, produced worldwide – a nucleus of the global entertainment industry. In this brilliant book, musical world culture meets an icon of German industrial culture. The catalogue accompanying the major exhibition at the Völklinger Hütte World Cultural Heritage Site is devoted to the history and present of music videos. In the numerous text contributions, musical, artistic, and filmic quality are illuminated as well as current topics: AI, climate change, political, psychological, and physical violence, and gender issues of all kinds. The examples span from early forms of short music film to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody from 1975 to empowerment scenes of the 2020s by Lady Gaga, Beyoncé or The Carters. The result is a global panorama of the genre and the art form of the music video that has never been realized in this form before.

The book brings together around 90 music videos from more than 30 countries. Among the musicians, artists, and directors involved are: Jonas Âkerlund, Laurie Anderson, Roger Ballen, Joseph Beuys, David Bowie, Björk, Childish Gambino, Chris Cunningham, Daft Punk, Billie Eilish, Romain Gavras, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Leningrad, Little Big, Massive Attack, Nuka, Pussy Riot, Yoko Ono, Rammstein, Stromae, Vaundy, Andy Warhol, Yello, Zoot Woman, and many more.

This book is also available in English.