BEYOND THE STREETS proudly announces LET THERE BE GWAR, a sprawling retrospective showcasing the 40-year legacy of the legendary art collective and shock rock band, GWAR. Opening September 12 and running through November 2, 2025, this exhibition is a free-to-attend deep dive into the outrageous universe that GWAR has spent four decades constructing through music, performance, and subversive visual art.
Born from a group of punk musicians and visual artists working out of an abandoned dairy building in Richmond, Virginia, GWAR emerged in 1984 as a hybrid of heavy metal theater and absurdist sci-fi mythology. Hunter Jackson, a VCU student crafting costumes for his film Scumdogs of the Universe, joined forces with musician Dave Brockie, and what began as a one-off stunt evolved into a full-blown, blood-splattered empire of art, performance and chaos.