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 debauchery, artistic expression and rebellion OF THE dominating queer techno scene in y2k Berlin, TROUGH IS THE COMING TOGETHER OF aN anything goes attitude, an unapologetic s** positivity, soundtracked by throbbing CLUB music.
Conceived back in 2005, TROUGH emerged from the subversive darkroom of Melbourne/Naarm’s queer fetish scene with the event TROUGH F****T PARTY. After ruffling a few feathers with the name, TROUGH F****T PARTY quickly built a cult-like following at its original home, Geddes Lane, 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 F****T PARTY was ready to give the gays a much needed sexually-liberated dance-club experience.
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 s*xual inhibition and energies on the dance-floors and in the darkrooms.
OR IS IT? SADLY, the venue Club80 is no longer. It is a sad turn of events — not just for TROUGH X but for the s**-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 s*xualities and genders. Taking its first tentative steps into the world post-Club80, TROUGH will retain its visionary approach to s**, 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 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 space that questions the complex intermingling of light and dark, s**, kink, masculine and feminine - all surrounded by the soundscapes of hard probing beats and the objects of our desires.