Belgium’s WeCanDance festival hosted a 3,000-capacity Y2K megaclub for one weekend only, and it’s a reminder of everything modern clubbing is missing.
For one weekend on the Belgian coast, the superclub came back from the dead. Built for WeCanDance Festival in Zeebrugge and torn down almost as soon as it went up, The Superclub was a full-scale recreation of the kind of purpose-built nightlife architecture that defined the late 90s and early 2000s, where rooms were purpose built for dancing, and the spaces we danced in were a draw too.
The idea is a direct callback to Cream, Gatecrasher and Sensation, the era when the club building itself was a big part of the the draw. A transparent outer layer exposes the scaffolding.
How it feels:
One entrance cuts through the facade, stretched out on purpose so the walk-in takes longer than it needs to. Two low, dark tunnels run under the mezzanine, bass audible before you can see where it’s coming from, before opening onto a sunken dancefloor that runs the full width of the building, ringed by a balcony reached by two staircases built for standing on as much as walking up.
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The DJ booth sits recessed into the floor rather than raised above the crowd, with scaffold platforms rising on either side of it so people end up physically above and around the DJ instead of facing them, echoing recent dancefloor trends also.
The lighting is the building: a translucent membrane over the scaffold, programmable in sections to chase and pulse light through the structure, backlighting the crowd on every level. There are no screens, no LED wall, just atmosphere and lighting.
None of it was built to last, which is the point, Temporary Pleasure’s whole practice is building clubs that exist fully in one place for one moment and then disappear, rather than permanent venues. Haai, Bashkka, Isabella, Skream & Benga and Job Jobse played across the weekend.
Temporary Pleasure is led by Irish artist and clubmaker John Leo Gillen, author of Temporary Pleasure: Nightclub Architecture, Design & Culture 1960–Today (Prestel, 2023). The studio has previously worked with the Barbican, Fundació Mies van der Rohe and Horst Arts + Music, and has collaborated with Jamie xx.
The Superclub is the clearest statement yet of the studio’s whole M.O: that the physical space of a club is as important as what is programmed.
Modern clubbing no longer adheres to that belief. For one weekend in Zeebrugge, one did again.
More from Temporary Pleasure:
Temporary Pleasure Dublin Port event postponed due to insurance & public liability issues / Temporary Pleasure are creating a club space in Dublin Port this summer
Temporary Pleasure book explores nightclub architecture, design & culture since 1960s
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
