Aussie exhibition evokes yearning for 'simpler' 1980s

The decade which produced Rubik's Cube and the Sony Walkman may seem old-hat, but a new Australian exhibition dedicated to the 1980s is riding a wave of nostalgia for pre-digital days, its curator says.

Peter Cox, who has put together The 80s Are Back at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, says the generation that grew up watching "Dallas", playing Pac-Man and listening to INXS and Wham! holds a fondness for those day-glo days.

"It was a simpler time," he said as the show opened.

"It was pre-9/11. While there was a kind of shadow of Cold War and impending nuclear apocalypse, at least you knew where the enemy was. It was before the digital era really."

Hundreds of keen time-travellers have flocked to the exhibition since it opened this month, peering into screens playing pioneering video clips while Pat Benatar's Love is a Battlefield or Salt 'n Pepa's Push It is pumped into the room.

On display are the diversions of the time - arcade classics such as Galaga, Donkey Kong and Frogger - as the exhibition tracks gaming from Pac-Man to Space Invaders to Atari and Nintendo Game & Watch.

Costumes worn by Boy George, Kylie Minogue and Split Enz are on display, while a window into 1980s fashion features acid wash jeans, fluorescent aerobics leotards and shoulder-padded powersuits.