In celebration of Pride 2023, The Community and Tom of Finland Foundation present The AllTogether Clubhouse, a group exhibition and daily event program in partnership with Diesel. Located in New York City’s West Village, the historical epicenter of American LGBTQIA+ culture and activism, at 9 West 8th Street, the Clubhouse is open June 21-25.
The AllTogether Clubhouse is the continuation of last year’s collaboration between The Community, Tom of Finland Foundation and Diesel, which presented the first public exhibition, outside of Los Angeles, of erotic and queer art from the Foundation’s permanent collection. After the success of the 2022 shows in Venice and Paris, the third chapter of the project comes to New York City with a new curation of work from the Foundation’s collection. New York is where it all began in 1976 when Durk Dehner discovered the work of Tom of Finland on a bootleg poster in a leather bar. Eight years later, he and Tom set up Tom of Finland Foundation to better preserve and promote Tom’s work. As the AIDS epidemic ravaged their community, the Foundation widened its reach to more artists, many of whom donated their collections to the Foundation lest their life’s work be forgotten or destroyed. Today, Tom of Finland Foundation has one of the world’s most extensive collections of LGBTQIA+ art and materials.
The AllTogether Clubhouse is envisioned as a unique, open space of freedom and love. Works by artists like Tom of Finland, Target Studios, Arthur Tress, and Pet Silvia are exhibited alongside contemporary members of the Foundation’s collection, like local documentarian Stanley Stellar as well as independent New York artists working in dialogue with Tom of Finland for the first time. The AllTogether Clubhouse will also present historical artefacts and documentation of NYC scenes like Stompers and the Piers and archival publishing such as S.T.H. (an acronym for Straight to Hell, also known as The Manhattan Review of Unnatural Acts), an influential gay and erotic non-fiction zine founded by Boyd McDonald. The exhibition mixes New York’s past and present queer histories in a multimedia experience and daily program of talks, screenings, performances, and concerts, which connects generations of prominent local figures and organizations. Together, they continue to support and shape the city’s ever-changing queer scene. Programming highlights include The Story Time Salon bringing together a handful of people who have shaped and bared witness to the ever-changing New York gay and queer nightlife scene over the past five decades. Linda Simpson will present her acclaimed slideshow extravaganza, The Drag Explosion, an insider account of how drag transformed from an underground into a mainstream sensation. The Story Time Salon events will occur in an intimate setting at the venue, avoiding any barrier between the storyteller and the audience.
American artist and author of Pier Groups: Art and Sex Along the New York Waterfront, Jonathan Weinberg, joins New York-based writer and editor Drew Zeiba to reflect on cruising in the post-digital age and the legacy of NYC’s West Side Piers. Other talks include a panel discussion on queer nightlife and its existence, past and present, which has served as a cultural incubator for ideas and trends for decades. Hosted by curator, educator, and co- founder of Gush collective Sienna Fekete, the panel includes Gage Spex, founder of the DIY party and exhibition space The Spectrum; Christopher Udemezue (Neon Christina), founder of RAGGA; Lydo, the interdisciplinary artist known for their underground parties X-TRA and X-TRA GEAR.SERVICES; and DJ and interdisciplinary artist-scholar Madison Moore, whose Nightlife-in-Residence at The Kitchen questioned the dance floor’s cultural, social, and political significance as a multivalent site and paid homage to the groundbreaking contributions of queer nightlife to performance practice.
The AllTogether Clubhouse also presents Hairbone live in concert, the New York-based power trio of multimedia artists Raúl de Nieves, Jessie Stead, and Nathan Whipple, and a special TOM House afternoon hosted by Durk Dehner and S.R. Sharp, with Rick Castro, Sal Salandra and Tony Cox, Rinaldo Hopf, Basil Twist, and more.
A Pride 2023 party to celebrate the Clubhouse opening will be held June 22 at Nowadays in Brooklyn and will invite some of NYC’s hottest queer artists and party collectives to unite.
Guest DJs include Elise (RAGGA), Oscar Nñ (Papi Juice), Michael Magnan (The Spectrum), Pauli Cakes (Xcakes), and Katie Rex (Bound). The AllTogether Clubhouse exhibition, event program, and after-party are open and free to the public with registration.
ABOUT THE CAPSULE COLLECTION
Following last year’s successful collaboration, Diesel has again partnered with Tom of Finland Foundation on a special Pride 2023 capsule collection. The drop amplifies the message of freedom of expression, sexuality and individualism — in this case, specifically celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community — that has always been a key pillar for Diesel.
The 2023 Diesel x Tom of Finland Foundation Pride collection spotlights a new set of artists from Tom of Finland Foundation’s erotic and queer art collection, including Stanley Stellar, Michael Mitchell and Tom of Finland. Their powerful images, carefully curated with The Community to illustrate gay men in moments of unabashed freedom and joy — social, sexual and romantic — are applied as prints and patchworks on the capsule’s 17 pieces ranging from T-shirts to denim to jockstraps. Each garment is trimmed with a special canvas tape printed with a quotation from the artist.
The artists selected reflect The AllTogether Clubhouse’s curation around the historical impact of New York City’s gay and queer culture and nightlife. Stanley Stellar’s photographs of gay men in the West Village, dating back to 1980, are featured on T-shirts, shirts and denim. For example, a sheer, nude long-sleeved T-shirt is printed with one of his photographs of a Dada ball attendee smoking a cigarette. A pair of 5 pocket jeans are screen printed with one of Stellar’s famous images of a gay couple wearing T-shirts that say “His” and “His Also.” A silk satin shirt and shorts are printed with trompe-l’oeil-esque close-ups of Viktoria Raykova and Stellar’s photographs of the leather scene. Cotton patches printed with the work of Michael Mitchell, a New York illustrator known for his erotic, pin-up-like drawings, are applied to a white hoodie. Tom of Finland’s iconic gay bar scenes are printed on T-shirts, hoodies, denim shirts and jeans. Tom of Finland’s Day & Night portraits depicting a clean-cut gay man dressed in a shirt and tie by day and scruffed up with a cigarette and a leather cap by night are printed on T-shirts, tanks, shorts, a cap and a jockstrap.
Designed for all genders, the collection is a celebration of the gay and queer community’s indomitable sense of pride. The Diesel Pride 2023 collection will be available worldwide from June on www.diesel.com and in Diesel boutiques.
ABOUT DIESEL
Diesel is an innovative international lifestyle company founded by Renzo Rosso in 1978. Rooted in denim mastery and evolved into being a leader in premium fashion, Diesel is now a true alternative to the established luxury market. The brand’s collections include apparel, accessories and a wide range of lifestyle collaborations: from fragrances, watches and jewelry to interior design and real estate projects with Diesel Living. Discovering, supporting, and fostering creativity is part of Diesel DNA and of its parenting company OTB, the international fashion and luxury group powering a variety of iconic global brands and companies.
For more information, please contact:
Diesel HQ Press Office: +39 0424 477555 | press@diesel.com
ABOUT TOM OF FINLAND FOUNDATION
Tom of Finland Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1984 by Durk Dehner and Tom of Finland. As Tom had established worldwide recognition as the master of homoerotic art, the Foundation’s original purpose was to preserve his vast catalog of work. Several years later, the scope was widened to offer a safe haven for all erotic art due to rampant discrimination against art that portrayed sexual behavior or generated a sexual response. Today, Tom of Finland Foundation continues to educate the public about the cultural merits of erotic art and promote healthier, more tolerant attitudes about sexuality.
tomoffinland.org
@tomoffinlandfoundation
#TomofFinlandFoundation
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY
The Community is a multidisciplinary, new-generation art institution. Founded in Paris in 2016, The Community sought a shared space to enable collaboration across different artistic disciplines. In addition to its curated program of exhibitions and events at The Community Centre, The Community works hors-le-murs with estates, galleries, institutions, universities, foundations, collections, and varying international exhibition projects. The ongoing exhibition program highlights multidisciplinary thinking and establishes a nonconforming dialogue between established and emerging artists. Over the last seven years, The Community and its initiatives have brought together more than 350 artists from over 40 countries. Exploring the notion of the new institution, The Community Centre in Pantin – Paris plays host to and explores the shifting intersections between cultural and social activities. The iconic example of Black Mountain College is a timeless reference to interdisciplinary approaches and experimental environments whose legacy The Community continues developing and adapting to the present and future.
thecommunity.io
@thecommunityparis
#TheCommunity
