Do It Thissen pyramid character

Do It Thissen

Contemporary artists and DJs celebrate Sheffield’s post-punk music scene.

Do it thissen = do it yourself (Yorkshire English).

Do It Thissen is a celebration of the do-it-yourself attitude that shaped Sheffield’s music scene in the 70s and early 80s. The focus is on post-punk, local labels and the links between students and the city.

At the centre of it all is a unique exhibition of record covers, photographs and fanzines from the Sheffield and South Yorkshire music scene, 1978-1982. Cabaret Voltaire, The Human League, Clock DVA, Vice Versa and many others are represented.

Contemporary artists including Sid+Mallory, Tim Allcard, Couk and Lesley Guy have responded to the material with new works of their own.

The opening Saturday (6pm-10pm) features a talk by NMX editor Martin Lacey and DJing by Jon Downing, one of the exhibition’s curators. It’s free – register your place here. There’s all-day DJing on Sunday 23.

We’re screening Eve Wood’s film Made in Sheffield on Wednesday 26 September in the Spiegeltent.

There will be live performances on Saturday 29; Sensoria launch their musical map of Sheffield, Neil Webb and Ron Wright use the records as sound sources and Alex McLean does live-coding using scanned record sleeves. It’s free – register your place here.

After the performances in the gallery, Sensoria are curating an evening in the Spiegeltent. Register to get a free beer at the gallery.

Unfortunately, Montgomery Hall has no wheelchair access.

The Curators

Jon Downing

Rotherham-born Jon is a DJ, record collector and archivist. He was in London for punk, and moved back to Sheffield in 1978. The exhibition is drawn from his personal collection. Jon will be DJing throughout the opening weekend. Listen to Jon’s mixes.

Dr Matthew Cheeseman

Matthew is a research fellow in the School of English at the University of Sheffield. His interests are themed around youth, pleasure, higher education, music, intoxication and media. You can read an essay by Matthew about Do It Thissen on his blog at www.einekleine.com.