During visit

LOOK

Look at the two jumpsuits at the end of the hip hop case:

• What kind of attitude do you think the performers were trying to convey?
• Find out the year the jumpsuits were made from the digital label. Compare the fashion statements they are making and how these relate to the different time periods in which they were created.
• What do you think the effect of their fashion choices would have on their image?
• When these costumes were created, do you think that the designers considered how hip hop performers would move around the stage?

What can the design of the objects in this case reveal to us about hip hop artists in Australia? See if you can pick up on any trends – ideas that keep popping up. Also think about how hip hop style compares with other musical genres in the exhibition – what are the similarities and differences?

LISTEN

*Teachers please be aware the lyrical content of the songs played via the digital labels may be explicit.

Listen to one of the songs in the exhibition via the digital labels. Make sure it’s a song you’ve never heard before.

What does it make you feel?

What ideas are being expressed?

Sketch a quick album cover you think would be a good representation of this artist, based only on the sound of the song.

Find a piece of technology that one of the artists has used to make music. Listen to the song on the digital label and identify as best you can, what kind of sound would that machine make? What kind of other instruments can you hear in the song?

INVESTIGATE

Find a piece of graffiti that one of the artists has used to decorate an object in the exhibition. Identify as best you can, the main design elements - line, colour, shape, space, texture, typography, scale, dominance and emphasis, balance and harmony. Why do you like it or find it interesting?

Find and compare the logo designs for Def Wish Cast and Muph & Plutonic. What is different about them? How do the images, font, design and colours create a certain mood or identity?