Designing the night. Graphic design of Belgian club culture 1970-2000

Designing the Night celebrates the rich design heritage of Belgian nightlife graphics. 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, and rural residences located next to roads were transformed into spaces that came alive only at night. Inside, mirrors, music and bouncing bodies created an artificial world, and colourful 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.