When asked about the Velvet Underground, storied record producer Brian Eno is credited with saying that while the band didn’t sell many records, everyone that bought a Velvets album went out and started a band. While there’s anecdotal evidence to this being true due to the array of acts that claim this New York City outfit to be an influence (David Bowie, Talking Heads, R.E.M. for starters), their impact can be felt even more via The Velvet Underground Experience. This pop-up multi-media art and music exhibition is currently housed at 718 Broadway in Manhattan, a stone’s throw from the Velvets’ East Village stomping grounds.
This immersive exhibit uses film, images, music and archival ephemera to not only use the Velvet Underground as a baseline to build from, but it also reflects and captures what was going on artistically and socially in the creative incubator that was the Big Apple in the mid to late ’60s. It was an important facet of the overall presentation, according to curator Christian Fevret.
