LED-light musings
This is why I keep sending these late
Between commissions, sleep, food, and work, I don’t have much time to do much. I make my sacrifices for sure. A lil time off sleep, a lil time off art, a lil time off cooking. Delay a nap, postpone an art session, and get take out just one more time. Picked up cigs again, but maybe the little walk outside can justify it (lmao naaa).
But I do like my nights out. I spend most of my days w wood blowing my back out (bc im hunched over when I carve) or throwing my neck out over some clay. So to go out and dance, move, and explore physical spaces is always a blessing. I don’t drink too much but its still nice to have a lil dance here and there. and the ppl in bushwick r fitted asf too its so cool. Theres a few posers, but a lil pose goes a long way.
Its honestly a rly solid scene compared to DC. Ive been going to more underground/rave/dj set type things, and it always gets a cool blend of ppl. In DC i mostly went to pop-music clubs and classic club bangers, and occasionally gay bars and latin clubs (love). Its an interesting difference tho - these underground scenes feel less intimate. Like everyone does their own thing, and doesn’t rly interact w others unless theyre asking for a cig (happily provided each time). But I think thats my main thing rn - there isn’t rly space to interact w others on the dance floor. I haven’t seen much of a hookup culture. And ppl dont rly dance w each other (its more like parallel play).
I think at its heart, the club should be a very personal place - its a place to express yourself, meet people you want in your life (for however long), and move your body. But we should let people into that personal space. And in our shared personal space we can form better communities. Everyone dresses the part, but nobody interacts with each other on the dance floor. Everything just feels separated.
I think its partly cuz of the city too. Ppl give respect each other’s personal boundaries a lot, and dont rly interact with each other unless someone needs help navigating it. But the niceties in daily life are kinda rare from what I’ve seen. Everyone is very helpful when needed tho, and thats rly what counts.
At its heart, i think its a strange sense of communal individualism. Ppl are very respectful of boundaries, but its more like people are ignored vs boundaries being acknowledged. There haven’t been dance circles anywhere I go, but everyone simply facing the dj. the conversations are happening outside for sure, but there isnt much meeting ppl inside. Its different in DC where ppl talked to each other a lot in nightlife spaces. Im probs overanalyzing it all, but its fun to think abt.
I also think abt how individualism affects my art as well. Ultimately, I hope my art can form communities where ppl are comfortable having conversations abt harder topics. But what if its just a personal experience for them? Do they want their boundaries intruded? Or do they want that little moment to themselves to interact just with my pieces?
its all musings tho, but ive enjoyed seeing how scenes are different here. And by seeing how the cultures are different here too. Its cool so far, and ive rly only seen a small part of it. I wanna immerse myself in an area, but ill b enjoying my lil sample sizes for the next few months too.
cheers/love,
faraz
ps ik im j one guy and do not have the definitive answer on what the nyc nightlife is. The range is most definitely huge. i def need to start being more social at clubs too, i do wanna have a social butterfly era too.
pss im late again lmfao get wrekt
psss the guilt is never ending i beg to keep my emails on time
pssss i saw cakes da killa on accident it was fun asf i need more scenes
uhhh