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Disco: The Bill Bernstein Photographs at Serena Morton Gallery

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Time 12:00
Date 03/12/15
Price Free
  • Produced by Reel Art Press
  • Price FREE; book: £40
  • Get ready for an access-all-areas tour of late-70s New York nightlife.
  • Bring along original disco fans.
  • Surf to more info
  • See you at Serena Morton II

In the late 1970s, The Village Voice sent Bernstein to Studio54, to cover a dinner for the President’s mother. When the regulars rolled in he bought ten rolls of film from another photographer.

Disco: The Bill Bernstein Photographs takes the viewer on an access-all-areas tour of late-70s New York nightlife. Bernstein witnessed first hand the last days of the disco scene in New York, he photographed the regulars at Studio 54, Paradise Garage, Mudd Club, Hurrah and GG's Barnum Room. Headlines may have been dominated by images of Bianca Jagger and Andy Warhol but Bernstein also captured the real faces of disco, the authentic, egalitarian crowd who lived and breathed the scene. 

During this time of gay liberation, women’s rights and racial equality, the dance floor transcended sex, age and status. As the Disco Bats glided across the ceiling at Barnum’s, Wall Street suits partied beneath with transgender party people. Manhattan was the epicentre of disco, and Bill Bernstein captured it all.

The exhibition marks the publication of Disco: The Bill Bernstein Photographs, published by Reel Art Press. R|A|P stands for exceptional taste and a unique curatorial eye. The company has made headlines around the world with its previous releases, which include: The Rat Pack, Hollywood and the Ivy Look, The Kennedys by Mark Shaw, Unseen McQueen and Billy Name: The Silver Age 

3 December - 23 January

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