Katarina Serulus

This book is dedicated to the Belgian nightlife’s rich graphic culture. Based on private archives et interviews with club culture personalities, the author analyzes the most popular graphic patterns since the first clubs in the 1970’s to the rise of electronic music festivals in the 2000’s.

In the late 1980s and 1990s Belgium’s club culture was at its peak: vacant buildings in historic city centres became art and music hotspots, while homes close to major highways in the countryside have been transformed into spaces that live only at night. Inside, mirrors, music and bouncing bodies created an artificial world, and colorful laser beams illuminated atmospheric clouds that emanated from fog machines. Thrilled by this fascinating, shared universe, youth from all over Europe came to Belgian clubs in order to dance throughout the night and staying well after the sun came up the next day. Often, flyers and posters are the only physical reminders left from the parties that took place the night before. Usually reduced to their function of being fast consumable and to gather as many people as possible into nightclubs, a closer look on these graphic ephemera reveals the wide range of lifestyles, graphic strategies, subcultures, music genres, identities and creativity fostered by Belgian club life. The exhibition features a collection of never-before-shown graphics including those of iconic clubs like Mirano, Fuse, Plan K, Boccaccio, La Rocca, Carre, and many more.

This book is co-published by ADAM (Brussels Design Museum) for their 'Designing The Night' exhibition (March 1st to May 5th 2019).

112 pages
27 x 20 x 0.9 cm
Language: English, French, Dutch
Softcover
Publisher: CFC éditions
Designed by: Ward Heirwegh