Nine Inch Nails Photography Exhibit Adds LA Dates

In 1994 Nine Inch Nails released their legendary album The Downward Spiral, one of the most influential records of the 1990s. Straight after its release, the band embarked on its global Self Destruct tour, which took place between 1994 and 1996. As a result of the combined success of the album and the tour, 1994 is largely credited as the year that NIN transitioned from an underground band to a household name. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Downward Spiral, a new exhibit of exclusive images from the Self Destruct tour is coming to Los Angeles. 

Jonathan Rach: Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral is on display at 7615 Sunset Blvd through March 6 and 9. The album playback will take place on March 7 with an artist talk on March 8. The LA exhibition is presented by Behind The Gallery, a pop-up gallery focusing on fine art music photography and popular culture. 

Jonathan Rach: Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral is an exhibit of 50 images produced by Jonathan Rach, a long-time collaborator of NIN. Rach began working with the band on stage designs, quickly moving on to filming a documentary with them. His film Closure, went on to go triple platinum in video sales. It was Trent Reznor, NIN’s lead singer, who decided to bring a photographer on the Self Destruct tour. Significantly, after NIN co-headlined with David Bowie in 1995, Bowie told Rach that he “just became the most important person in the room.” Rach’s images immortalized the performances in a time before smartphones and social media. These photographs now bring a new lease of life to a significant cultural moment from the 1990s. 

NIN are famed for pushing the boundaries of music, mixing rock with digital technology. In an interview for Rolling Stone, Rach said that: “The shows had a ferocious energy to them matched only by the crowd out front. I knew I was positioned in the middle of something that would become an important part of music history. To this day, the industry still talks about that tour and its impact.” The Self Destruct Tour took place across Europe and North America over eight legs. The performances were likened to an artistic statement, being an intensive, immersive and chaotic experience. 

The LA exhibit is a follow-up to its US debut at New York’s Morrison Hotel Gallery, and successful exhibitions in Australia and the UK. The show marks a moment in music history and is composed of black and white photographs full of energy and chaos. The images show the band mid-performance, with Reznor smashing microphones and jumping up and down, as well as behind-the-scenes photographs before and after the shows. The exhibit also includes highlights from NIN’s six nights of performances at the Hollywood Palladium, as well as photographs of David Bowie and Lou Reed.