Two decades after forever altering the visual landscape of downtown queer nightlife, artist and photographer Slava Mogutin returns to Manhattan with NYC GO-GO 2.0, opening alongside LABOR OF LOVE on October 8, 2026, at SoHo Project Space.
20th Anniversary Exhibition
and LABOR OF LOVE
by Slava Mogutin & Jesse Jordan.
Opening Reception and Book Signing:
Thursday, October 8, 6-9 PM
SoHo Project Space
127-B Prince Street, NYC 10012
In the early 2000s, against the backdrop of creeping gentrification and rising rents, Mogutin embedded himself in the sweaty, unfiltered after-hours pulse of the East Village. Armed with his camera, he documented the dancers, hustlers, and performers who animated legendary venues like The Cock, Boysroom, Mr Black, and Eastern Bloc.
“NYC Go-Go is Slava’s ode to that most noble and ridiculous of New York institutions, the go-go boy: sexual object, exhibitionist, narcissist, hustler, performance artist and working stiff (so to speak). It is pornography, portraiture, anthropology, nostalgia and social history all rolled into one sweaty, ample basket.” — Bruce LaBruce
For the 20th-anniversary presentation, the gallery will showcase over 60 never-before-seen outtakes from the original powerHouse Books release. Mogutin’s lens captures these men not as commodified spectacles, but through relationships built on intimacy and mutual trust—navigating the murky territory between fantasy and livelihood, performance and survival.
Contrasting that communal nightlife energy, the exhibition also introduces LABOR OF LOVE, a tender, deeply personal dialogue created with his partner, Jesse Jordan. Functioning as an ongoing visual travelogue across New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, London, San Francisco, and Mexico City, this second body of work documents their shared domesticity, private rituals, and quiet adventures. Paired with Mogutin’s handwritten poetry and text drawings, the dual exhibition traces two decades of an iconic practice that effortlessly bridges the raw, erotic charge of the underground club with the profound sanctuary of romantic partnership.
To mark the occasion, SoHo Project Space has produced a new limited-edition volume featuring both bodies of work, complete with Bruce LaBruce’s foundational essay.
Exhibition Details
Exhibition: SLAVA MOGUTIN: NYC GO-GO 2.0 & LABOR OF LOVE (with Jesse Jordan)
Opening Reception & Book Signing: Thursday, October 8, 2026 | 18:00–21:00
Venue: SoHo Project Space, 127-B Prince Street, NYC 10012
