Nocturnal City feat. Laurel Halo, Beatrice Dillon & Amy Lamé

SOLD OUT

Sat 11 Mar 2017

17.00-00.30

Full day pass £10.00, Evening £8.00 + booking fee

More details

Full pass (panels, demos, installations and party) £10.00 + booking fee valid from 17.00-00.30

Evening ticket (music performances only) £8.00 + booking fee valid from 20.00 to 00.30

River Rooms & Lancaster Room

New Wing

Part of Somerset House Studios

What is the state of London night club culture and what are the views on the near future?

NOTE: Advanced tickets are sold out, there will be a handful of tickets on the door for the evening performances. Please check our Facebook and Twitter channels on Friday 10 March for more information and set times.

New for 2017, Nocturnal City is a series of events exploring the state of London’s nightlife and its influence in pushing the boundaries of culture.

Curated by Studio resident Estela Oliva in collaboration with Somerset House Studios, the first edition will interrogate the interplay between London and Berlin nightlife with an evening of installations, panel talks and performances. The line-up features DJs, artists and professionals from both cities, including London Night Czar Amy Lamé, musicians Laurel Halo and Beatrice Dillon and artists Lawrence Lek and LaTurbo Avedon.

Beatrice Dillon, Photo: Anne Tetzlaff

Laurel Halo

Berlin’s Berghain nightclub recently received the same tax status as the city’s concert halls in recognition of its contribution to culture. Yet in London, nearly half of its nightclubs have closed in the last ten years. With rents spiralling in the capital, more and more London artists and DJs are decamping to Berlin each year, contributing to an ever more international and vibrant cultural landscape.

A series of conversations includes recently-appointed London Night Tsar Amy Lamé in discussion with the Clubcommission Berlin, the industry association for Berlin clubs, to share ideas on the development and safe guarding of club culture. Berlin Community Radio will participate on the rise of independent online platforms and their roles in distilling new forms of music and culture emerging from the cities into a global audience.

VIP Room, Club Rothko, LaTurbo Avedon

The evening continues with a series of DJ performances including a special dance set by Berlin-based electronic artist Laurel Halo, alongside London producer, musician and NTS DJ Beatrice Dillon. Throughout the event, audiences can take a virtual reality tour of LaTurbo Avedon’s virtual nightclub Club Rothko and enjoy Lawrence Lek’s Berlin Mirror, which presents a simulation of a Berlin institution and its fictional exhibition in 2042.

Image credit: Florence To, NOQTURNL at 4DSOUND Institute, Budapest

PROGRAMME SCHEDULE

17.00 doors open

[Conversations]

17.20: Welcome by Somerset House Studios’s Director Marie McPartlin and curator Estela Oliva.

17.30 – 18.20
/ NEW SPACES /
From London to Berlin to the Virtual Realm, what are the new spaces where alternative and independent club culture can thrive in the cities? What is the role of these spaces in supporting new ideas and promoting forward thinking values? Should we explore other models like community-run, crowdfunded spaces as an alternative to for-profit clubs? How can new technologies contribute to making club culture more accessible?

17.30: The Creative Footprint by Lutz Leichsenring
A new project to develop the world’s first index of creative space and advocate for the value of nurturing vibrant arts scenes in the cities.

17.45: Berlin Community Radio
Berlin’s online radio platform for new forms of music and creativity from the Berlin scene.

18.00: Bala Club
London based itinerant club and music label exploring radical new sounds and aesthetics.

18.30-19.30
/ CITY FUTURES /
How can London and Berlin learn from each other to create new cultural standards?
A conversation between the London Night Tsar and a representative from the Berlin Clubcommission discussing how to foster the development of an enriching club culture in the cities. How can London and Berlin learn from each other to create new standards? What actions could be taken to protect and foster the development of the underground culture? What is the role of the institution?

Speakers:
Amy Lame, Night Czar, Mayor of London
Lutz Leichsenring, Berlin Clubcommission
Moderated by Adam Bychawski (The Quietus, Vice, The Guardian).

[Installations]
17.00-23.00

Club Rothko VR, 2017 (Virtual Club)
LaTurbo Avedon, Internet
Studios virtual resident artist-avatar LaTurbo Avedon presents a new piece of her virtual nightclub Club Rothko. The new virtual reality component will introduce viewers into the club experience in the virtual space.

Berlin Mirror (2042 Retrospective), 2016.
Lawrence Lek, UK
Berlin Mirror is a site-specific virtual tour of the 20142 Berlin Biennia at KW Berlin where fictional artist Daniela Graham weaves together her practice in video and installation art, her early life in Berlin, and the relationship between history and her four site-specific works at the Berlin institution.
Commissioned for: Secret Surface at KW Berlin. Curated by Ellen Blumenstein

Berghain Trainer, 2016
Vinzenz Aubry & Fabian Burghardt, DE
Berghain is supposed to be the most difficult club to get into. This is an interactive trainer to practice entering the infamous nightclub. You'll be walking along the queue and speak to the bouncer. Face and speech recognition will be judging your answers.
Credits: Concept, Design, Development: Vinzenz Aubry & Fabian Burghardt, Filming: Franz Becker, Actor: Sven Gelhaus
berghaintrainer.com

[Performances]

19.30-20.15: Berlin Community Radio (DJs: Sarah Miles, Linda Lee)
20.20-20.35: Bala Club LIVE
20.35-22.00: Beatrice Dillon (London - DJ Set)
22.00-23.30: Laurel Halo (Berlin - DJ Set)
23.30-00.30: Berlin Community Radio (DJs: Sarah Miles, Linda Lee)

Supported by the Goethe-Institut London