After Dark: Night out

What’s the very first thing that pops up in your mind when you’re going out on a Friday night? How does it make you feel?

Do you put on your favourite blue eyeshadow? Sip drinks in a lively pub while laughing and chatting with friends? Then perhaps walk home alone, accompanied only by the quiet embrace of dawn?

Curated by a group of  MA students from the University of Leeds, After Dark: Night Out is a virtual exhibition inspired by the evocative nightlife artwork in the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection.

This exhibition explores how scenes of nightlife in art capture a range of emotions—joy and excitement, loneliness and regret. Visitors are invited to reflect on their own experiences at different stages of the night and uncover the shared humanity of these moments.

Step into this immersive journey and rediscover the stories of the night—what will you feel?

Visit the exhibition

After Dark: Night out is part of a wider series of online exhibitions curated by Art Gallery and Museum Studies and Arts Management and Heritage MA students from the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, as part of an Interpretations course module.

Visit the online exhibition.

Image

The Last Drop, Charles Joseph Hullmandel, 1789-1850 (detail). Lithograph on paper, h 20.5cm x w 30.5cm. Art Institute of Chicago Collection. CC0. 1.0 Universal license.