Diamond Dogs catalogues the 80s underground scene in Naples

Date
29 November 2016

A new book titled Diamond Dogs reproduces the complete archive of photographer Toty Ruggeri who captured the goings on at the infamous Naples hangout in the 80s. The images show gigs, exhibitions and parties in the space and offer a glimpse of the avant garde and artistic community as it strived in the aftermath of the devastating 1980 earthquake. “While the attention of television and newspapers was focused on urban disrepair and on the social ills of the city, dozens of artists of all types and discipline (musicians, painters, writers, poets, actors and directors) were starting the new cultural rebirth of Naples,” says Yard Press, the publisher.

The 256-page hardcover book is printed in both Italian and English and is limited to 300 copies. The chaotic scenes captured by Toty show a venue that was vibrant and unforgiving. “The clothes, the symbolism and the mannerisms may have been similar to those adopted by punks all over the old continent, but do not get confused, the experience of Diamond Dogs, as well as the social and political events that Naples lived in those years, was unique in the Italian panorama, and probably also in Europe,” writes Paolo Pontoniere in the introductory essay. “Anticipating phenomena that would have occurred in the years to follow, the events that took place in Naples, at Diamond Dogs, during the second half of the 80s, were harbinger of a world in which social fluidity, economic instability and political transformation would become the rule rather than the exception.”

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Tony Ruggeri: Diamond Dogs

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Tony Ruggeri: Diamond Dogs

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Tony Ruggeri: Diamond Dogs

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Tony Ruggeri: Diamond Dogs

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Tony Ruggeri: Diamond Dogs

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Tony Ruggeri: Diamond Dogs

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Tony Ruggeri: Diamond Dogs

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Tony Ruggeri: Diamond Dogs

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Tony Ruggeri: Diamond Dogs

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Owen Pritchard

Owen joined It’s Nice That as Editor in November of 2015 leading and overseeing all editorial content across online, print and the events programme, before leaving in early 2018.

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