Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Shut Down the Club

Oct 1, 2021 – June 12, 2022
65 Peckham Rd, London SE5 8UH, United Kingdom

In the early 1990s, Brits who wanted to party—not just drink and snort but dance bathed in neon until sunrise—went to Peckham Lazerdrome in South London. It was one of the first venues in the city to put raves under a roof, letting 2,500 people stretch their nights into the next morning. The really devoted partiers alternated their evenings between Lazerdrome and Imperial Gardens, a club that fostered the music and literary careers of many substance-inclined young artists. Remembering nights that attendees surely don’t, this exhibition features archival posters and ephemera, plus photos and grainy videos of teenagers and twentysomethings moshing to techno at both clubs. —Jensen Davis

Photo: Andy Stagg