Indeed, the night world, its builders and observers, its cultural hubs, and its counter-cultures, are thriving among Parisian cultural institutions. We’ve barely had a moment to catch our breath after visiting the exhibition Disco at the Philharmonie, which brilliantly pays tribute to the festive and political fervor of this revolutionary music genre, when a big sister pops up just a few districts away, within the walls of the Grand Palais Immersif. Different timelines, yet sharing the same hedonistic spirit: the second complements the first, as if they had conspired together. The disco, which gradually lost its shine by the late '70s (too divisive, ravaged by AIDS), allowed electronic music to take the stage. Here too, it’s deep within the legendary clubs where clubbing matured that the guests are fully immersed, and the fun is just getting started!
The visit is accompanied by music, invoking the senses, engaging the bodies, and inviting a delightful release.See this post on Instagram
When the museum becomes a club
Imagined by the artist-curator Pierre Giner, in collaboration with the design collective Trafik and the electronic media Poptronics, the 1,200 square meters of exhibition are organized around a XXL dance floor where the greats take the stage one after another.tubes électro that have shaped decades of celebration. We join this new generation club by tapping our feet, pulling out our Shazam, and, mesmerized, watching the light installations by artist Bruno Ribeiro, thrilling our senses with hypnotic projections. It undeniably reminds us of the monumental works from Into The Light, the spring exhibition at La Villette; it’s as if they all coordinated their schedules.
A global mapping of clubbing
More formal yet equally exciting are the long corridors that explore the iconic places where the history of clubbing has been built and continues to unfold. Born in the Loft, this informal nightclub set up by David Mancuso in New York in 1966, the phenomenon has spread to Manchester (The Hacienda), Ibiza (Pacha), and Lagos (The Shrine),ng>), in Lisbon (LuxFrágil) and of course in Paris, with the iconic Palace, Pulp, Rex Club, or Boule Noire.
From these " aesthetic, political, friendly, and existential experimentation grounds ", as Pierre Giner likes to think of them, we learn about the founders, the musical influences, the visual styles, as well as the various social issues connected to them – advocating for racial and sexual minorities, the success of synthetic drugs… All of this is accompanied by interventions from DJs, renowned researchers, nostalgic photographs, and a follow-up with your virtual avatar, created through facial recognition and dressed by stylist Maroussia Rebecq. In the end, we step back into life a little lighter, with bass in our ears and an eye on Shotgun to already book our next night out.
© Flora Gendrault
Clubbing
Grand Palais Immersif
110, rue de Lyon – 12e
From May 13th to October 1st, 2025
Evenings Thursday to Saturday until 10 PM
More info and reservations
