For me, a major strength of the pavillion is exactly the way its diverse contents recall and celebrate gay men’s impressive perseverance across history co-opting both technologies and the urban environment for cruising. Yet, the curators are quick to observe that non-physical cruising is far from a smartphone-era invention, placing an 80s-era French Minitel machine (an early competitor to the American-developed Internet) near the entrance - a lonely reminder to cruising communication of generations past.
Whether through a direct-to-sex Grindr encounter or more circuitous Tinder date, geo-social apps are radically altering the relationship between casual sex and the city.
Fittingly, the dress code poster of famed New York City BDSM club Mineshaft hangs in the entranceway to the pavilion in a clear homage to this aesthetic legacy.įor the vast majority of people today - of all sexualities and genders - “cruising” happens over the Internet. Interestingly, the curators see these elements as a “designed elaboration of the vernacular of gay cruising of the 70s and 80s: abandoned, neglected, industrial spaces fed an aesthetic of cruising now influencing the architecture and style of gay bars, saunas and clubs”. there is a fine line between celebrating cruising by showing it and disabling it by revealing too much of it.” In Studio Karhard’s club designs for Berghain or the Berlin gay sauna Boiler Room (whose plans are, in fact, on display), many contemporary industrial design tropes are featured - exposed concrete, pipes, factory lights or brushed metal. A lot of cruising places rely on secrecy to even exist…. “Their secrecy is very architectural in fact. In the eyes of the curators, this made complete sense. When they first got in touch with architecture firm Studio Karhard about including their designs, “they declined because there is a strict no image policy inside the club that extends to architecture plans….to ‘keep it mystic,’ as they said”. Hanging in one of the wooden alcoves is an industrial light fixture from the infamous Berghain/Panorama Bar/Lab.oratory club in Berlin, in lieu of the club floorplans the curators had hoped to show. The curators make sure to point out to me, however, that many of the aesthetic tropes at play in the Cruising Pavilion have a specific, and recent history.