Meat Rack

16:00 minutes / Betacam SP, VHS-C / 2019 - Directed by Harry Lawson

The NYC Downlow is Block9’s legendary queer nightclub. First appearing at Glastonbury Festival in 2007 as a film-set replica of a dilapidated 1970s Lower East Side tenement with an X-rated gay nightclub inside, the space has since evolved into a seedy warehouse at the heart of the Meatpacking District circa 1982. The warehouse serves as the location for Meat Rack, a short film documenting the Downlow's 10th birthday celebration in 2017. In an attempt to construct an immersive reality (like the venue itself) Meat Rack was filmed on a Betacam SP camcorder with VHS-C inserts. Both formats were manufactured and available to the public in 1982.

Meat Rack takes viewers from Somerset to New York City over the course of 16 minutes. From construction site to dance floor, build crew to muscle boys, the film is a personal tribute to a cultural phenomenon. An intimate, unsettling portrait that attempts to capture the fleeting nature of one of Glastonbury’s most notorious nightspots.

Meat Rack was first exhibited online via Block9 from 23rd → 30th June 2020. It was selected as part of The Observer's Guide to Summer Culture and covered widely in other publications such as Crack, Resident Advisor, Mixmag, DJMag, Ransom Note, Hypebeast and Attack Magazine.

CREDITS

• Director - Harry Lawson

• Director of Photography - Saul Pankhurst

• 2nd Camera - Liam Healy

• Sound Recordist - Emma Barnaby