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.