‘After Party shows hundreds of rural French discotheques’ frontage, shot in daylight. Those nightclubs, still in activity, show themselves in a new light: neon and other sulfurous attributes from the nocturnal ambiance are replaced by a more standard and less glittery reality. They become then quite neutral buildings in peri-urban or rural zones, in the middle of industrial area or sugarbeet fields.

‘As Cinderella getting back to reality, those places of celebration, idealized by many teenagers, become void. Not without humour, and with a hint of nostalgia, the series wants also to pay tribute to the sometimes overdecorated designs and visual codes claimed by those places. The project was awarded in 2016 a “Fidal Youth Photography Award“ and won a 5000€ grant.’ — collaged

 

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Further

Francois Prost Site
Francois Prost @ instagram
A PARISIAN AFTER PARTY IN THE LIGHT OF DAY
Paris Syndrome: photographer Francois Prost explores a replica city in China
“Photo Stories” by François Prost
Francois Prost’s Photographs Show Parisian Architecture Like You’ve Never Seen It
Buy the book of ‘After Party’

 

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Extras


Aux Champs Élysées 2018 BY FRANCOIS PROST


Un samedi soir en Province

 

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Interview
from Nova

 

After Party is a trip through France. The idea is to photograph the storefronts or buildings of discotheques “periphery”, almost nightclubs roundabouts?

François Prost : Yes. Many discos are actually in these areas between the city and the countryside, either from the suburbs of large and medium-sized cities or from the deep countryside. After the discotheques, historically, have been rebourguer in the suburbs not to disturb the neighborhood.

You do not photograph the insides of the clubs, you do not photograph them at night but by day, when there is a kind of non-life in a place that can be very excited. By the way, the first time you saw a club like that was during a late night?

François Prost: Not exactly, I did not go out but I ended up on a disco parking lot by chance. I left a few days to take a bike trip in Burgundy and I took this place in photo. He touched me because he was decontextualized. To see the backdrop of this place in the middle of the day, I found it interesting. It was called the Attitude Club, not far from Corbigny in Burgundy.

And from when did you start doing this routinely?

François Prost: I took this picture in 2011 and falling back a few months later I thought it was a subject that could be the subject of a documentary.

Did you notice occurrences of names?

François Prost: There are several categories of names, namely references to mythical places, Studio 54, Amnesia, Pasha, places that made the history of nightclubs. Then there are many names of places that refer to hedonism, the Dream for example, or references to the Greco-Roman culture.

We almost feel the American Dream.

François Prost: Yes, because these places are still a lot of American culture, shopping center, driving, mall … All these areas have taken a very important place in the French landscape, we begin to realize. Historically, the image of France a little cliché is the small village with the town hall, church etc. And in fact these areas take a lot of space on the territories.

You asked permission from all these clubs?

François Prost: No, no. I started asking, but in fact it was too complicated.

You saw them at night?

François Prost: There are still not far from 250 photos. I reviewed some at night, I had been to others when I was younger, including the Titan near Lyon. You see it returns this Greco-Roman image, of power.

And the Macumba?

François Prost: I met two of them. There were more but some closed. There is a lot of turnover overall for the discotheques. Except for Macumba, because it’s a chain! There is one still in activity in the suburbs of Lille, another towards Bordeaux which closed, one in Savoie which closed also … In any case it is the mythical image of the French discotheque.

There are the references of the south, the Macumba, but also Italy , the American references, the historical references, there is a combo between all that.

François Prost: Indeed you can say a lot about all architectural references, it even speaks of the history of architecture. The pictures speak for themselves.

Everything is relatively recent, since the 70’s. Is it really the explosion of disco that brought all these discotheques?

François Prost: I would say yes. Afterwards there are certainly buildings that have been recycled, for example in more remote places there are farm buildings.

 

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*

p.s. Hey. ** Carsten, Thanks, yeah, he’s great. No klieg lights or paparazzi or anything, that’s for sure. The poster’s quite large, that’s cool. ** Alice, Hi, Alice, good to see you. That book is very very worth getting. Video editing would be swell. Editing is my favorite part of making films. Zac takes freelance jobs as a video editor sometimes. ‘Illbleed’, I don’t remember it. Huh. Has it been ported to some other system? Fuji-Q Highland Park is one of my favorite amusement parks, and they do have a helluva haunted house attraction there. Must seek out, it seems. Pikmin 2 is my favorite of the series. Before the game maybe a little too elaborate or something. Nice. You take care too. Best of the best. ** seb🦠, Hi! Bearcano, okay, I’m on the hunt. Oh, wait, wow, you shared a clip. Thank you, I’ll hit it when I’m done here. Oh, maybe I’d fight The Blob. I always thought it would be much easier to kill than the people in the movie thought it was so I could test my theory. Who’s your ideal monster opponent? ** _Black_Acrylic, Ultimately, yes, if one is lucky, for sure, yes. ** Laura, Well, well, sleeping progress, excellent. His name is pronounced DOO-goes (the ‘l’ is silent). Obviously I’m very happy you like his poems. That book would not fail you. Highest hopes on the gradual, at least, return to spunkiness. The wind is mild here today but very cold. I’ll take that. I hope yours is, well, room temperature. ** Charalampos, The book will penetrate you, I’m pretty sure. No, I think the UK ‘Try’ cover was just kind of a washed out looking version of the US cover? Paris sends its greetings, if I may be so bold. ** Steeqhen, Thanks. He’s an amazing poet, yeah. I believe you on the Dr. Who thing. ** Steve, No longer an atheist? That’s disappointing. You would think drugs would help make that construction’s stupidity even more crystal clear. I was a dj just for that school year. September to May or thereabouts. We’re thinking plans for the IRL home haunt, but we need to buckle down. Probably have to wait until our big French premiere week is over. It’s a bit involving. ** Bernard Welt, The day was ripe for you, for sure. I corresponded with Tim when he was still in DC, but that doesn’t really count. I never watch TV, but catching a Brainard reference is tempting. Maybe someone will make a Brainard reference-only youtube clip. An oral Tim biography is the super great, obvious, must-do project that is obviously never going to happen, and the contributors are dropping like flies. Yes, I saw, I guess on social media, that you’re doing readings, and I clasped my hands together in glee. I did. Can a reading by you at After8 be far behind? I’m so sorry about your brother. That’s so rough. Hugs, B. The theater in NYC where ‘RT’ is playing is rescheduling the Saturday night event if that’s what you’re aimed at. We’re quite pissed off about that. It might be moved to Friday night or Sunday afternoon, waiting to hear. But I can’t wait to see you whenever it is. ** HaRpEr //, It is indeed. And Tim did seem as close to an O’Hara of our generation as there could be. Oh, okay, interesting about your process. I guess I’ve done that too but I think only after I’ve wasted lots of time unsuccessfully polishing what gradually reveals itself as a turd. Yes, I have a pretty developed plan for a novel before I start it, but I definitely follow my muse or whatever once I’m writing as long as I stick to the structural principles I laid out. ** Nicholas., Aced … everything, most things? Fried rice, that sounds good. Hm. No, I’ve never felt that I wanted to bottom for anyone, if memory serves. Maybe worship a little, but that’s it. ** Vincent, Hi! Haha, you think? Probably, yeah. Thanks. How are you? ** nat, Here too. Really cold. And wet. Not an ideal situation on the video game work, yeah. Apropos maybe, I can’t imagine writing a film that I wouldn’t be also visualising. You must love trying to sort all those potential fiction ideas out, though, no? I really like that part. Or maybe I like it more in retrospect than in the moment. Still, that sounds involving in a great way. Nice sighting you had there, needless to say. Onwards, eh? ** Okay. I think I had some of François Prost’s photos here in some post/context at some point in the past, and I decided to give him a whole galerie show for whatever reason. See what you think. See you tomorrow.