You Can't Kill Kill

Fans of punk rock and creative destruction are perhaps familiar with cult Michigan art collective Destroy All Monsters. Jim Shaw, Cary Loren, Mike Kelley and Niagara began working together in 1973 as a scandalously noisy and shambolic band that also produced experimental films and an eponymous magazine. The aesthetic was inspired by B-movies, free jazz, the scabrous assault of their friends the Stooges and the political confrontations of John Sinclair and the counterculture. It was all a mess, but gloriously so, and it directly inspired later musicians including Sonic Youth (Kelley designed the artwork for the band's Dirty album, and Thurston Moore released an epic three cassette set of DAM's live shows through his label) and provided an intellectual blueprint for other music/art collectives such as Fort Thunder. Hungry for Death, a retrospective exhibition of Destroy All Monsters' print and audial output, celebrates the group's origin and continued existence. The show is curated by Cary Loren and James Hoff, and it opens with a free public reception from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, September 19, at White Flag Projects (4568 Manchester Avenue; 314-531-3442 or www.whiteflagprojects.org). Hungry for Death remains on display through Saturday, October 24; White Flag Projects is open Saturday and Wednesday.
Wednesdays, Saturdays. Starts: Sept. 19. Continues through Oct. 24, 2009