Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

NIGHT FEVER: An online look at the world of the night

Get clubbing - online - with the V&A online Night Fever events.
Get clubbing - online - with the V&A online Night Fever events.

Anyone who has already seen Night Fever, V&A Dundeeā€™s current exhibition about the history of nightclub design, must have already felt a pang of nostalgia for their own clubbing youth or a sense of loss for an experience which is currently closed off to a generation.

For those who have found their appreciation of the places, people, music and culture involved in the nightclub scene over the years blossoming because of Night Fever, the next weeks will showcase a range of excellent and comprehensive online talks which go behind the scenes both of the exhibition and the social movements which inspired it.

Night Fever: Designing Club CultureĀ is the<br />first large-scale examination of the relationship between club culture and design.

Close to home, A Defining Decade: Scottish Clubs 1987-1997 (Wednesday June 30) sees Kirsty Hassard, curator of the Scottish element of the international exhibition, in discussion with cultural historian and Glasgow School of Art Research Fellow Mairi MacKenzie about the effect the boom in house music-inspired club culture had upon this country.

ā€œLike most people, clubs played a large role in my formative years,ā€ says MacKenzie.

ā€œI used to work for the Tunnel and the Volcano (in Glasgow) handing out flyers, and used to work as a dancer from time to time. Clubs are where I met a lot of my friends, and I’m pretty sure I went out every night from the age of 17 until about 22 or 23.

Nightclubs bring so many things together

ā€œNightclubsĀ were and are such important cultural spaces, and they bring together many disparate elements ā€“ music, architecture, graphic design, lighting and fashion ā€“ to create something thatā€™s often greater than the sum of its parts.

“From an academic point of view this rich layering of elements and meanings make them of great interest, and they can be analysed from a number of historical perspectives ā€“ economic, cultural, social, design, architectural, and so on.ā€

The period from 1987 to 1997, she says, saw a huge transition in nightlife, one which Scotland adapted to in its own way.

From ecstasy to Thatcherism

ā€œThe new sounds coming out of Chicago, Detroit, and Europe ā€“ as well as the influence of ecstasy ā€“ had a huge impact on the way that clubs operated and people partied,ā€ says MacKenzie.

ā€œIn addition, the political backdrop of late Thatcherism, the poll tax riots, the Criminal Justice Act, the deindustrialisation of large parts of the country, and changes in technology that affected the way music was made, all contributed to a particular sensibility.

An original Halston dress, definitely designed to be seen.

ā€œI’m fascinated by cultures that evolve beyond their original location, and the unique characteristics they develop along the way,ā€ she continues.

ā€œTo see something like techno transposed to Scotland and for it to thrive, be appreciated on its own terms and then create entirely new cultures is wonderful. Itā€™s not solely a Scottish phenomenon, but I think thereā€™s something particular about the development of Scotland’s nightclubs, and that is ā€“ for want of a better term ā€“ how ‘up for it’ Scottish people are.ā€

Clubs, Society and Joy: In Conversation with Jeremy Deller and Vinca Petersen (Thursday July 8) will bring together two featured artists whose work is explicitly concerned with club culture, in conversation with Dr Catharine Rossi of Kingston School of Art in London, one of this exhibitionā€™s original curators.

The evolution of nightclubs and the cultures they served.

ā€œBoth artistsā€™ work is very different, but they share this interest in documenting the collective, ephemeral experiences of club culture, which is one of the things we wanted to do with the exhibition,ā€ says Rossi.

ā€œTo talk about club culture and design is not just about T-shirts and graphics and permanent places, but also about designing these experiences of joy and togetherness, which is what both of their work explores in different ways.

The politics and the culture

“Vincaā€™s A Life of Subversive Joy manages to document all the madness of someoneā€™s experiences in rave culture in the UK and abroad, and Jeremyā€™s film Everybody in the Place is a fascinating work about the nostalgia thatā€™s imbued in rave culture and how we document it, but it also reveals a lot of the politics that underpins rave culture.ā€

Other events include If I Canā€™t Dance Itā€™s Not My Revolution (Tuesday July 7), which links into the Guerrilla Girlsā€™ new billboard work The Male Gaze on Forfar Road, and looks at how we can make public spaces ā€“ including clubs ā€“ safe, and Behind the Exhibition: Night Fever (every Monday between July 5 and 26), which looks at the behind the scenes planning and construction of the show.

 

– Find more information on V&A Dundeeā€™s series of online events related to Night Fever atĀ www.vam.ac.uk/dundee/whatson