Carefree nightlife in British 80-90s club in the lens of the photographer Adam Friedman

• The unwary nightlife in British 80-90s club in the lens of the photographer Adam Friedman

Today, the headlines are not optimistic: "The British nightclubs are closing at an alarming rate according to statistics," "Why the British nightclubs die (says the owner of a night club)", "How can I save the London club culture?". The story goes that before the introduction of licensing, to the possibility to lodge complaints about the noise and to the high cost of renting premises, which virtually destroyed the small places, in London's West End, East End and partly in the southwest of the British capital there own special club culture.

The reality is much more complex than such a view, but the conclusion still begs one: the clubs are closing faster than opening up new institutions, and not only in London but across the UK. By the end of 2015, Great Britain has lost about half of the clubs in ten years. But thanks to the photographers who documented the night life in the 1980s and later, today, remains something more than a vague memory of the current 45-year-olds to get an idea of the height of the British club culture.

Carefree nightlife in British 80-90s club in the lens of the photographer Adam Friedman

JoJo's.

"What I have always rented, it was not so much the music, or dance, oddly enough, - says Adam Friedman, 53-year-old photographer whose images of night life from the 1980s to 2000-th stored in the archive Youth Club and part of the exhibition exhibition, which opened in East London on 7 July. - I shot pleasure. And I think that it is underestimated force. It is an antidote to all the bad in the world, it can be said, our powers ".

Dingwalls.

When you speak with Adam now, almost 30 years after his return to London from New York, where he rented a subculture and club goers, he is also fascinated by the sanctuary nightclubs, both when he was a teenager. He says he grew up in north London and interested clubs, fascinated punk and live music. A few years later, he filled his hand at photographing people in midtown Manhattan - from their Spanish-speaking neighbors to "guys on Wall Street who throw money at places like Area, prosazhivaya thousand per night," and then come back to the reality of the Thatcher regime in the UK approximately in 1987.

Pure Jam.

"Everything seemed to be broken, as though they were told that they can not do anything - says the photographer, referring to the general feeling of disconnection. But at night, people are still finding ways to unite. - Sometimes three o'clock in the morning there comes a moment in someone's face appears certain expression: a way to combine all. And it's amazing. We all felt it, everyone who went to the clubs, who was a child and had a passion for travel, it is felt. But to make a picture of it, or even a series of photographs - it's amazing. It is very important". To document these moments of happiness has become the basis of his work.

Trash.

As it relates to the fact that now everyone who is able to keep in the hands of a smart phone, will automatically become a photographer? "What I always liked about the pictures - is that photo - egalitarian art. Before there were all these phones, we were invited for each significant event. Of course, now it's different. I am normal for this attitude. When something changes, I change too. " In this case, it means that he has passed from portraits and pictures in clubs to large-scale projects. He wants to turn the print with hundreds of photos, like a mosaic - "one photo club party every night of the year" - a giant product, similar to stained glass. Photographer calls it "The key to the pleasure."

Dingwalls.

As for the future of nightclubs, Adam is not eager to dwell on the subject. "I'm not sure I can answer this question. I think what's happening with the club facilities in London - the same thing that happened to gas stations in London. Try to fill the car here. Where are charging? They sold out, and now in their place build offices. That's what happened in the West End, and the same thing happens everywhere. Just sell the building was too tempting. "