by Holly Genovese

Photos also by Holly Genovese

I’m not from Austin, or Texas, and before moving here in 2018 to study I had visited once, for 24 hours. I knew Austin had a reputation for being cool, but I couldn’t have told you why. I’m from the East Coast, and one thing I’ve realized since moving to Texas is that the East Coast thinks a lot of itself. We learn very little about anything west of the Mississippi and I only realized that when I left. I’m not from New York, not even close, but the “View of the World from 9th Avenue” cover of the New Yorker feels very relevant.

I didn’t know Austin used to be weird or that the city really loves movies or that so many famous people live here. I had no idea. I quickly realized that the “weird” identity of the city had all but disappeared decades before I arrived. Sure, there were the stickers. But it was difficult for me, moving to the city in 2018, to even understand what it was that Austin had lost. I knew it as a booming tech city, increasingly overpriced. I knew that it was incredibly white and getting whiter all the time. I knew that more and more tech moguls and celebrities were moving here. But much of the cool stuff had already been lost. I missed the last gasps of Austin as a hub for weirdos and creatives and moved here when it was already really hard to survive as a weirdo or creative (or a student, like me). To me, Houston, with its food scene and museums and Parts Unknown episode seemed like a real weird, creative city. 

Even though I got here too late, there were still closures that hurt. The loss of our two video stores, Vulcan Video and I Luv Video, hit me hard. And the pandemic closure of Spiderhouse Cafe, which I didn’t learn about for months. And I’ve slowly discovered the places that do make Austin special–AFS, for one. Austin City Limits. The many independent bookstores, including Bookwoman, which has been around for 40ish years. But what really showed me what Austin once was, and never could be again, was the Daniel Johnston exhibition at The Contemporary ATX. The exhibit focuses on Johnston’s legacy–both his connection to Austin as well as his artwork and music. Johnston was the quintessential Austin weirdo-handing out mixtapes with hand drawn art at the Mcdonalds on Campus (there was a McDonalds on campus?). He gave off tremendously low-fi vibes in the early 90s, even as he painted a famous mural and Kurt Cobain wore a shirt with his artwork on it.

The exhibition shows the evolution of his work, as well as his music, and even includes a recreation of his workspace. A piano surrounded by toys and comics and funky objects. His work asked big philosophical questions through comic inspired art (Johnston loved Marvel).

I don’t why, but seeing Johnston’s art, seeing what Johnston was able to create in Austin, finally showed me what was lost when Austin stopped being weird. The Sound Exchange, where Johnston painted his famous mural, has been closed for 20 years. Nearly a decade before that, it was voted the “Best Place to Buy into the Underground” by the Austin Chronicle. For many new Austinites, the Underground has never existed in Austin. But the Contemporary’s exhibit on Johnston gave me a way of seeing an Austin that, for me, would never exist. 

You have four more days to see “Daniel Johnston: I Live My Broken Dreams” and it’s absolutely worth braving the SXSW crowds for the chance to travel back in time to cool, weird, Austin.