T_OUGH _LOVE

A RETROSPECTIVE OF TROUGH

TROUGH/Trof
1 — a long, narrow vessel animals drink and eat out of.
2 — A urinal / a public space where men congregate with their junk out.
3 — A sex positively queer dance party.

THE ART IN THE P-ART-Y

TROUGH events are notorious for their visionary photographic imagery and epic video art-promos, all produced and directed by creator Nik Dimopoulos. This body of work not only adds a strong and artistic aesthetic to the practical details of the parties: What / Where / When / Who, but also carries a distinctive vision to the event itself. Since the conception of TROUGH, Nik Dimopoulos has been creating, experimenting, collaborating and art-directing thought provoking worlds and narratives through photography, video and installation. The nightclub is his gallery where he invites the viewer / participant / dancer to immerse themselves in a visually overloaded sensory space surrounded by hard probing beats, sweaty bodies and the objects of our desires.

T_OUGH _LOVE

T_OUGH _LOVE gives you an immersive and provocative art experience you didn't know you needed – tracing the evolution of Nik Dimopoulos and his debaucherous party/brand/lovechild, TROUGH. Experimenting at the intersection of masculinity and sex, T_OUGH _LOVE is a thought-provoking installation of moving and still images captured through the lens of a queer eye. Included in the show will be new compilation artworks and collaborations questioning the complex intermingling of light and dark, sex, kink and the object(ification)s of our desires.

TROUGH NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION, ALL THE STORIES YOU’VE HEARD ARE TRUE!

For the uninitiated who just happened upon this page: firstly, HOW?! But also, here’s a brief history to catch you up to speed.

Inspired by the dominating queer techno scene in y2k Berlin––the debauchery, artistic expression and rebellion — TROUGH fused together a similar anything goes attitude, an unapologetic sex positivity, soundtracked by throbbing techno music and brought it to the dark dance-floors of Melbourne/Naarm.

Conceived back in 2005, TROUGH emerged from the subversive darkroom of Melbourne/Naarm’s queer fetish scene with the event TROUGH FAGGOT PARTY. After ruffling a few feathers with the name, TROUGH FAGGOT PARTY quickly built a cult-like following at its original home Geddes Lane / Inflations, as an event for alternative gays and their admirers. After two years of stomping its boots into the dark corners of the Melbourne/Naarm techno underground, TROUGH FAGGOT PARTY was ready to give the gays a much needed sexually-liberated dance-club experience.

ENTER CLUB80

In 2010, TROUGH matured into the x-rated moniker, TROUGH X and settled inside Melbourne/Naarm’s iconic 4-level men’s cruising venue, Club80. This quickly became the new home for homos, queers and jocks, strapped up in their finest fetish-wears, coming together to harness their sexual inhibition and energies on the dance-floors and in the darkrooms.

THE REST THEY SAY IS HISTORY. OR IS IT?

Unfortunately, today the venue Club80 is no longer. It is a sad turn of events — not just for TROUGH X but for the sex-pos queer scene of Melbourne/Naarm in general. Moving forward presents newer and greater opportunities. No longer restrained by the door policy of its previous home, TROUGH now opens its arms to all types of hot asses; inclusive to all spectrums of sexualities and genders. Taking its first tentative steps into the world post-Club80, TROUGH will retain its visionary approach to sex, kink and art, powered and fused by throbbing dance beats from the iconic through to the up-coming, all hand-picked from the full queer spectrum of Melbourne/Naarm and abroad.

TROUGH would like to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians as the first peoples of these great lands on which we come together. We wish to pay our respects to all First Nation Australians, past, present and emerging, and we acknowledge and celebrate their continued spiritual and cultural connection to the land. Sovereignty was never ceded.