M HKA Ensembles

Installation, 00:26:28.

Collection: Courtesy of the artist and Jan Mot, Brussels .

Dijkstra’s video installation The Buzz Club, Liverpool, UK / Mystery World, Zaandam, NL, 1996–1997, were filmed in the two respective nightclubs named in the title. For her first video work, the artist invited a number of people she selected from the attendees of each club to participate in the work, asking them individually to act as they pleased in front of a neutral white background. The atmosphere of the club comes through via the music we hear, which they also sometimes respond to through dancing. Often they just look disaffected, sometimes shy and sometimes confident. We are offered a glimpse of their tribalistic approach to social life alongside their self-expression, through the clothes they wear as well as how they move. Presented as two synchronised projections, the first section of the work offers a snapshot of house music club culture in England, whereas the second depicts the gabber scene in the Netherlands. Always avoiding sentimentality or exploitation, the work opens a perspective on the nature of youth and their devotion to social culture.