This exhibition project is a loose continuation of our book with the same title, which saw the light of day at the end of 2016 and on more than eight hundred pages reflects the phenomenon of alternative culture in the 1990s. After many years of wonderfully painstaking, but often exhausting work it has completed the imaginary trilogy and filled the gap on the timeline between TRIBES 0 (the normalisation period) and TRIBES (the present).

Unlike the book, whose fundamental building stones are essentially text and photographs, the exhibition's means of expression are objects, video recordings, graphic design, fashion and period visual art. Regardless of the different form and rhythm of narration the book and the exhibition share a common aim - to observe the consequences of the dramatic changes sparked off by the political changes in November 1989 which in its wake completely transformed the life of urban non-conformist youth. Immediately after the political thaw these young people began to absorb new impulses from abroad, which were, inadvertently, often reshaped into a new, original cultural form, standing somewhere on the border between East and West; underground and pop culture. The situation testifies to the now rather clichéd statement that the 1990s were actually the revisited sixties. This comparison which should otherwise be approached with great caution, describes quite fittingly the similar vigorous cultural flourishing and social transformations taking place both in the mainstream and on its margins.

I suppose that each of us has his/her own version of memories of the 1990s that they could tell. And that others than I might also be able to assemble, in their own way, the pieces of the stories of the different attitudes of the tribal families which operated during that decade. I believe that in terms of the close detail of the storyline the accounts would always sound dissimilar but as a whole they would not be substantially unlike each other. The exhibition which will occupy the whole building of the Museum of Applied Arts for a couple of months is primarily defined through the prism of my vision. Logically, it builds on the personal meetings I mentioned above which today seem to be more and more inevitable and fatal to me. And yes, I admit that unfortunately by highlighting a particular moment, a single event or an object we discard all the others which could have contextualised this singularity or even replaced it. I do hope though that the visitor will understand this limitation on our part and will accept it as part of the game. We selected representative symbols for the exhibition, which cannot possibly contain and relate everything, but hopefully somewhere between the lines they have captured the essence of what the 1990s mean to us all.

Vladimir 518

Moravian Gallery in Brno — Museum of Applied Arts