Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire
On Show 2020
Freddie O’Reilly
 

Masquerade is a concept for a virtual nightclub experience. I came up with the idea after all of my favourite clubs were closing and relocating before my eyes due to rent hikes and shifting consumer trends. My love of these spaces inspired my to come up with a solution to these problems. In a virtual club, the potential market is unlimited and made accessible to the whole world. By eliminating the barriers of capacity and distance, a new model for future viability would be made possible. Looking back to the past for inspiration; to the great clubs of the 1970’s in New York and then on to those in Berlin which were what originally lit the fire of my passion for this lifestyle. I wrote my dissertation on the topic of club culture. Ian Shraeger, co-founder of the iconic New York nightclub Studio 54, said that he believes that the second coming of his great club would only be possible through the use of modern technologies like virtual reality and visual effects.