It’s been 40 years since Steve Rubell and his partners shuttered the legendary Studio 54 after they were jailed for tax evasion. And even though the Club had only been opened for less than 3 years. even today it is still regarded as as pivotal part of the NY night club scene, and spoken of in awe even by people who could never get past the heavily manned front doo
In 1977 when Rubell and Ian Schrager first opened the doors of the Club, the timing was perfect . It was the Vietnam War, and amid the nationwide Civil Rights Movement and fights for LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, a nearly bankrupted New York City hungered for social and creative transformation as well as a sense of joyous celebration after years of protest and upheaval. Low rents attracted a diversity of artists, fashion designers, writers, and musicians, catalyzing the invention of new art forms, including musical genres such as punk, hip-hop, and disco.
In a rare societal shift, people from different sexual, sociopolitical, and financial strata intermingled freely in the after-hours nightclubs of New York City. No place exemplified this more than Studio 54.
Now the Brooklyn Museum are celebrating the Club with a new Exhibition Studio 54: Night Magic . It traces the radiant history, social politics, and trailblazing aesthetics of this most iconic nightclub of all time.
Organized chronologically, the Exhibit uses photography, fashion, drawing, and film, as well as never-before-exhibited costume illustrations, set proposals, and designs, to place the nightclub within the wider history of New York, from Prohibition through the 1970s. Blueprints and architecture models illustrate the club’s innovative development and creation, while documentation of extravagant theme parties traces its thirty-three month run.
Studio 54: Night Magic is curated and designed by Matthew Yokobosky, Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture, Brooklyn Museum.
Studio 54: Night Magic March 13–July 5, 2020 https://www.brooklynmuseum.org 200 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, New York 11238-6052
