LETTER: In Support of New York Nightlife

Dear PIN–UP Reader,

Nightlife is an architectural experience. As Andrew Pasquier wrote a few issues back, after the closing of the The Spectrum’s Queens location:

“I think of nightclub design as an exercise in fantasy building. It is an architecture of experience. The spatial arrangement of a club, the materiality of its walls, and the attractiveness of its lighting should make you feel a certain way. A good club transports you. It displaces you from normal life. Form follows fantasy.”

But with New York City, along with much of the world, still reeling from the pandemic, nightlife has largely been put on pause. The disappearance of clubs and parties has not only eliminated many ways for people to connect and create — especially for the queer community — but it has also affected many livelihoods. For performers, musicians, DJs, and promoters nightlife is an economy. 

To support the collectives that have always made New York City’s vital, globally influential nightlife possible, Wolfgang Tillmans has created Support Nightlife NYC. The initiative is part of the German artist’s larger 2020Solidarity project which has already raised over 800,000 dollars for cultural and music venues, community projects, independent spaces, and publications that are existentially threatened by the current crisis.

Support Nightlife NYC sells original posters by over 50 artists, from bold-faced names like Jeff Koons, Nan Goldin, Marlene Dumas, William Eggleston, and Isa Genzken, to younger artists such as Stuart Uoo, Jacolby Satterwhite, Heji Shin, Nicole Eisenman, or Njideka Akunyili Crosby — many of whom used to be regular guests at the parties they’re now helping. (Tillmans himself is represented with two posters, and PIN–UP supports the initiative as treasurer and media partner.)

Each poster is 50 dollars each with all proceeds going to eight queer collectives shaping NYC’s nocturnal landscape: Gay Vinyl, RAGGA NYC, Club Glam, The Spectrum, Papi Juice, NYC Inferno, Qween Beat, and Venus X’s legendary GHETTO GOTHIC.

You can read more about Support Nightlife NYC in Vogue, where Wolfgang Tillmans and Julianna Huxtable talk about the freedom found in nightlife; in The Face; and also in Frieze, twice, with a compelling piece by Andrew Durbin. But here’s something even better: go to Support Nightlife NYC and buy as many posters as you can. The sale ends August 10! 

Thank you for your support. 

Felix Burrichter
Editor/Creative Director 

GET YOUR POSTER HERE