Inside the exhibition tracing the radical history of nightclubs

The nightclub might be the epicentre of weekend hedonism the world over, but rarely is it given any serious reflection beyond its pounding beats, blinking strobes and the rancid grime of toilet cubicles. Yet, for all its filth and excess, the nightclub, as a cultural institution, is a unique space for experimentation, community, and self-expression — a place where music, fashion, light, sound and people all come together. A new exhibition, Night Fever. Designing Club Culture 1960 — Today opening this week at Centro Pecci in Prato, Tuscany, celebrates the important position the club has operated in society since the 1960s to the present day, with particular emphasis on its design, dynamic architecture and boundary-pushing conception of a social space.

“I like this idea that culture and entertainment can be on the same side, and that together they can provide people an experience and a way to reflect on very serious issues, such as identity and diversity,”  Centro Pecci’s director Cristiana Perrella, tells SLEEK over the phone about why nightclubs matter. It’s an important and thought-provoking position in which to consider ‘the club’ — a space that in recent years is increasingly under threat, particularly in Great Britain, where nightclubs have been closing in their dozens for the past number of years (last year, for instance, market research group Mintel reported that there had been a 17% drop in the value of the UK clubbing market since 2013). Even in Berlin — the uncontested capital of nightclubbing and techno — clubs are closing due to skyrocketing rents and more conservative attitudes that go hand-in-hand with gentrification. “Clubbing as a phenomenon is declining,” concedes Perrella. “But I think that makes it interesting for us and for culture to reflect on.”

Now, in its third edition — Night Fever was originally conceived at Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhei last spring, before moving to ADAM – Brussels Design Museum — the exhibition excavates the history of clubbing through photographs, posters, clothing, art works and of course, sound and light installations. Beginning with a look-back at ‘60s clubs such as New York’s Electric Circus, designed by architect Charles Forberg, and which opened in 1967 with the invitation to “play games, dress as you like, dance, sit, think, tune in and turn on,” the exhibition moves through the years and the continents to trace the kaleidoscopic character of the club as a cultural entity.

“In the 1960s, it was probably the first time that there was an epiphany that the taste of entertainment could also be a taste for culture — these things came together very naturally, but in a very experimental way,” explains Perrella.  This experimentation is explored throughout the exhibition, zooming-in on iconic hotspots, such as Studio 54, Pallaadium and Area in New York, the Hacienda in Acid House-era Manchester and of course, Berghain in Berlin. For Perrella, these clubs were integral in “changing youth culture.”

The Tuscan installment of the exhibition elects Italy’s multifunctional and avant-garde discotheques that began to spring up in the mid-1960s as a result of the Radical Architecture movement (a desire to create dynamic venues) as a central tenet. Clubs such as Florence’s Space Electronic — which was designed by one of the movement’s groups, Gruppo 9999 — elevated the conception of a club as purely a venue for dancing and socialising to a sprawling multidisciplinary site, hosting everything from experimental theatre to underground music concerts. Elsewhere, this iteration of the exhibition also focuses on London’s queer club culture in the ‘80s and ‘90s, with an emphasis on the performance artist, fashion designer and public figure, Leigh Bowery. Perrella is keen to acknowledge the role nightclubs have played in queer culture more generally — “these were places where people could be themselves and affirm their identity publically.”

While Perrella admits that clubbing might be less relevant as a cultural phenomenon today, she believes that might just be from an Euro-American perspective. “Clubbing is developing outside of Europe and the States in Asia and the Middle-East. In Beirut, for example, clubbing can be a very political statement and a way of somehow keeping the hope of a normal life alive.” She also believes the scene is changing, with more experimental, artist-run club spaces cropping up. When I ask Perrella what’s her favourite part of clubbing culture represented in the exhibition, she says, “the spirit of experimentation — this desire to disrupt borders between high and low culture, this is what I like the most.”

See more from the exhibition below: 

Night Fever. Designing Club Culture 1960 – Today runs from 7 June to 6 October at Centro Pecci.