Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978-1983

Description

An in-depth examination of the iconic alternative space Club 57. Located in the basement of a Polish Church at 57 St. Marks Place, Club 57 (1978-83) began as a no-budget venue for music and film exhibitions, and quickly took pride of place in a constellation of countercultural venues in downtown New York fuelled by low rents, the Reagan presidency and the desire to experiment with new modes of art, performance, fashion, music and exhibition. A centre of creative activity in the East Village, Club 57 is said to have influenced virtually every club that came in its wake. Published to accompany the first major exhibition to examine the scene-changing, interdisciplinary life of downtown New York's seminal alternative space in full, Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978-1983 taps into the legacy of Club 57's founding curatorial staff to examine how the convergence of film, video, performance, art and curatorship in the club environment of New York in the 1970s and 1980s became a model for a new spirit of interdisciplinary endeavour. The richly illustrated publication will feature film and video stills; photographs of Club event and activities; ephemeral documents such as flyers, posters and period zines; and a robust plate section of rarely-seen artwork from the period by the likes of Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Tseng Kwong Chi, Kitty Brophy, Fab Five Freddy, Richard Hambleton, Dan Asher, Ellen Berkenblit and John Sex.

Ron Magliozzi is a Curator in the Department of Film at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Sophie Cavoulacos is an Assistant Curator in the Department of Film, MoMA. Jim Hoberman is a film writer and journalist based in New York. Jenny Schlenzka is the Executive Artistic Director at Performance Space 122. Laura Hoptman is a Curator in the Department of Painting & Sculpture, MoMA. Lucy Gallun is an Assistant Curator in the Department of Photograph, MoMA. Ann Magnuson is a performance and recording artist and writer based in Los Angeles. She was the manager and performance curator at Club 57 from 1979 to 1980.

Opened in 1978, it quickly became a center for all manner of creative experimentation: photography, video, zines, performance, music, and theater, and more than a few important artists emerged from its damp depths: Keith Haring, who used to perform from inside a fake TV set; the painter Kenny Scharf; the team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who would go on to write the music and lyrics for Hairspray.--Lynn Yaeger "Vogue" The book is a phenomenal achievement in publishing, equal parts art and cultural history.--Sara Rosen "Crave" The cult club that transformed New York's art world from 1978 to 1983.--Sara Rosen "Huck"