CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 5/14/2018

Night Fever, Night Fever!

Bill Bernstein's 1978 photograph of the dance floor at Paradise Garage, New York, is reproduced from "Night Fever: Designing Club Culture 1960-Today," the magnificent new 400-page compendium from Vitra Design Museum. Though the title of this book takes off from the 1977 Bee Gees hit, the phrase, night fever actually "describes the experience of going out more generally," Catharine Rossi and Jochen Eisenbrand write, "as we escape from the working day and venture out into the hedonistic night. Night fever is the feverish expectation of what is to come; the dressing up (or down) for the night ahead; and the nervous excitement felt while queuing outside a club, uncertain if you are going to get in. It is the mounting anticipation as you enter a venue and head down a darkened corridor, through a murky tunnel, or up a narrow flight of stairs. It is the racing pulse and heightened temperature as you move to the music, lost to the rhythm in a sea of bodies, and maybe even meeting a rendezvous for the hours ahead."