MAD FUNDS “NIGHTLIFE” ARTISTS

Apr. 10, 2012

Alcoholics get sponsors, so why not clubbers too? For the second year in a row, the Museum of Art and Design is awarding four artists with its “Fun Fellowship,” a stipend (they’re not saying how much) for four artists working within the “social practice” of nightlife.

Since the dawn of the modern era, “nightlife has been a petri dish for artists to germinate new strains of creativity and spawn fresh artistic collaborations. These environments serve as spaces for individuals of different, social, economic and cultural backgrounds to exchange ideas and experiences, spurring the development of new artistic disciplines and approaches,” explains the museum’s website.

This year’s winners are FCKNLZ, a collective that’s transforming transcripts from old talk show episodes on the rise of “club kids” into a new 30-minute performance; another artists’ group, CHERYL, runs around New York City hangouts in a party bus and tries to gain followers by posting their whereabouts online; Ladyfag is hosting a no-admission “dayclub,” a project meant to give passersby a window into what goes on at nightclubs, but without letting them participate in the hedonism; and the Babycastles collective is hosting a series of workshops on video game hacking with Japanese game designer Keita Takahashi, culminating with a “highly physical” playground party.

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