Punk masks, Walkmans and Choppers: the Museum of Youth Culture opens in London | Museums

In the basement of a newly built apartment building in Camden, the ventilation system is fully operational. The fans hum like a chainsaw orchestra as they move around the concrete room while trying to deal with a minor moisture issue. “This is what it would look like if there was a fire!” shouts John Swynstead, the driving force behind the Museum of Youth Culture, trying to make his voice heard above the noise.

It’s hard to imagine, but in a few weeks, this empty, slightly drab space will be transformed into an institution dedicated to all things teen-related — a project Swinstead has been working on in one way or another for nearly 30 years.

When it opens on May 15, the museum will house an archive of 100,000 objects that tell the story of British youth subcultures, from mod and rock to rock and emo.

Scattered around the team’s temporary workspace are giant portraits of grime greats, slides of Gavin Watson’s work documenting skinheads, and a Raleigh helicopter, which Swinstead admits is part of a collection that’s “worth a few interviews.” “We also have the original Sony Walkman,” he adds. “It has two entries, one that says ‘Men’ and the other ‘Dolls’.”

They have called on the British public to donate items, such as a huge collection of school leavers’ T-shirts, with personal messages written on the felt edges. Elsewhere there are custom handbags and custom T-shirts for two-tone belts. It is a bottom-up form of organizing, which the team believes suits cultures that were handcrafted, on the margins and essential to the young people who created them.

“We got a donation from a guy named Steven who was going to early punk parties in 1976, but thought he would be kicked out of his apprenticeship if he was recognized. So he got a welder’s mask and wrote ‘HATE’ across the top,” says Lisa Der Widwe, community programmer at MoYC. “He also donated a copy of the Evening Standard and is there wearing the mask at the Clash concert.”

Swinstead says the museum fills an obvious void in the UK, which has the award-winning Young V&A aimed at children, but nothing major dedicated to the teenage years and the huge amount of subcultures bred in the UK. “If it exists for childhood, why shouldn’t it exist for teenagers?” asks Der Wede. “Most museums stop organizing exhibitions at 13 or 14, which is when the exciting things happen.”

The museum began life in a Swynstead Park shed, which began collecting photographs capturing the British subcultures that defined the second half of the 20th century.

The group initially became the PYMCA Photography Agency, but changed tack after being contacted by art graduate Jamie Brett. They both saw the cultural value in the collection and began thinking about starting a museum.

They’ve since organized pop-up events at the We Out Here festival, created a show for Coventry’s City of Culture year, and had a semi-permanent space on Shaftesbury Street in central London, but now they’re on the brink of something completely different.

The museum will also serve as an event space, including a Rough Trade store and youth club. With a 20-year lease and support from the City Bridge Foundation and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Swinstead hopes the museum will become an important part of the UK’s cultural landscape.

Dear Widow and Swinstead are quick to refute the idea that subcultures are on the wane when compared to the countless tribes that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. “We can’t deny the difference, but he’s not dead,” Swinstead says. “It’s different today. I don’t think people run in packs the same way now.”

“If you look at the anime or K-pop scene, they have all the hallmarks of a traditional subculture,” says der Wede. “There’s style, there’s visual identity, there’s music – it’s definitely more refined and has definitely become more fluid.”