Two phrases I pulled from the House of Yes website are “temple of expression” and “art can inspire and heal us.” My experience with gay nightlife have been just this, an opportunity to express yourself in a way you cannot elsewhere. The freedom of fashion, character, and interaction is so unique to these spaces and I like that HoY highlights this explicitly in their values. 

The key word I am going to focus on in my project is sanctuary. I see queer nightlife as an escape from the everyday, a safe space to simply be. I am interested in doing gif’s or a short animation to be projected, but I think this concept can be extended into the other projects HoY introduced as well. I would be interested in doing performer profiles around this theme of nightlife as a sanctuary.

My resource I’m using is “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” by Indeep, a disco song from 1983 released during the AIDs crisis. I believe this song captures the way these dance spaces serve as healing spaces as well. https://youtu.be/GtfZbj4J71A

Attached are some sketches of imagery and aesthetics I would like to explore in this project.