FREAKHAUS

[Concept Project]

Researched, conceptualized and designed a museum exhibit about the New York Club Kids. The team designed the physical exhibit, branding, marketing collateral, and proposal booklet.

[Creative Directors and Designers]

Julia Bognar, Drew Rogers, Maeve Woodson

[Main Role]

Layout Designer

The New York Club Kids was a young, queer generation that shattered nightlife into both sanctuary and statement which had emerged in New York City during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the wake of the AIDS crisis and ongoing cultural hostility, they created their own form of escape, building a world where transformation was celebrated and expression knew no limits. Their appearance was deliberately extreme and theatrical, marked by vivid makeup, sculptural costumes, and exaggerated forms of drag.

Beneath the brilliance of their creativity lay the tension between freedom and self-destruction. The Club Kids’ pursuit of liberation often collided with the darker realities of excess, where escapism and addiction intertwined. The Freakhaus exhibit invites viewers to witness how the Club Kids turned defiance into art and reimagined identity as an act of fearless creation.

Starting this project, we wanted to truly capture how the Club Kids turned defiance into art and reimagined identity as an act of fearless creation. Club Kids was an extremely expressive and colorful environment. It was meant to break barriers and the conservative conformity of the late 1980s. We wanted the exhibit to draw inspiration from the nightlife looks that smeared the lines of gender. Inspired by these looks and images, the exhibit is meant to make someone reflect on the rules they follow in society, just like these fashion choices did for the society that was peering in on their escaped reality. It is meant to be bold.