Club Culture x Pop Up Culture: The legendary nightclub and anti-club party specialists unite, championing the evolution of club culture.
On March 19th, London’s legendary Ministry of Sound joined forces with pop-up specialists Lab54 to host a first-of-its-kind secret party—in the women’s toilets. Now, revealing the secret collaboration, Ministry of Sound and Lab54 are announcing the start of an on-going partnership with more pop-ups to come. Kicking off on May 4th, Lab54 will return to the site of the ‘break-in’, minus the bolt cutters, to host the first in a series of Toilet Takeovers.
Late on a mid-week evening, Lab54 and 100 accompanying ravers ‘broke’ into the venue, armed with balaclavas, sound systems, and a trolley load of alcohol, with footage from the event spreading virally across social media and reaching 15 million views so far. Experts in the unconventional, Lab54’s ‘anywhere but a club’ ethos has led founder, Joe Gordon, and the lab-community, to party all around the world, from castles to arcades to bagel shops, hotel rooms to yachts and beyond.
Inspired by the enduring spirit of club culture, the inaugural party witnessed the unlikely marriage between the ‘Anywhere but a club’ specialists with one of the UK’s most iconic venues to spark conversations around the ever-evolving nightlife landscape. United in their combined reverence for community, the event paid homage to where Ministry, and rave culture itself, started some 35 years ago.
Says Lab54 founder Joe Gordon, “I think the paradigm shift we’re seeing in nightlife at the moment makes it important for clubs like Ministry to work with communities like ours to help reflect this in their offerings to ravers and what better way to do that than going back to their roots and pranking the online rave community!”
Since its inception in a disused bus garage in Elephant & Castle, Ministry of Sound has continued to evolve and shape the capital’s nightlife industry, maintaining its revolutionary attitude. Today, the iconic venue continues to pave the way for superclubs to support the modern raver, with accessible £5 tickets, sober raves, and 3 brand-new in-house club nights launched: Smoove, URGE, and Disco Daddy.
Says Ministry Group’s Managing Director Caitlin McAllister, “Club culture has always been about pushing boundaries, and the intersection of pop-up culture with establishments like Ministry of Sound is a reflection of how the industry is evolving. There’s an irony in a pop-up ‘breaking in’ to a club but that’s exactly the point – we need to bring new ideas to our spaces.”
Landing on the bank holiday weekend, the first official Ministry x Lab54 Toilet Takeover party will see the club’s loos transformed once more on Sunday 4 May. More details, dates and events to be announced – keep your eyes peeled at; @ministryofsound @lab54_uk
