Serge Becker


Serge Becker is a Swiss creative director, nightlife and hospitality designer, and impresario. He is part of a second wave of New York City restaurateurs who incorporated nightlife and theatrical elements into their venues. André Balazs described Becker as a "Cultural Engineer" in the New York Times.

Biography

Becker was born in Paris in 1961 and raised in Zürich from age 8. He is the son of Ruth Becker, a Swiss theater and television administrator, and a Vietnamese father. He studied graphic design at Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich from 1977 to 1982.
While studying, he worked nights as a DJ at local clubs. With photographer Pietro Mattioli, he selected records at one of Zürich's early punk evenings, documented in the book 1977. In the early 1980s he began booking New York City rap performers including Kurtis Blow, Davey D, and Grandmaster DST for Swiss audiences.
Becker moved to New York City in 1982 and became art director at the nightclub AREA, a position he held for three years. This led to a 15-year creative partnership with AREA co-founder Eric Goode. Together, they designed and operated New York City clubs and restaurants, directed music videos, and produced art and photography.
In 1998, Becker joined George C. Wolfe, Josh Pickard, and Paul Salmon to open Joe's Pub at The Public Theater. The same year, he started the design firm Can Resources with architect Derek Sanders and creative director Lisa Ano. The firm designed commercial and residential projects, including the Flower Box Building in the East Village.
In 2000, Ano and Becker launched List, a magazine presenting all content in list format. Both the magazine and Can Resources closed after the dot-com bubble crash and 9/11.
In 2004, Becker and Sanders joined artists Thomas Sandbichler and Jeff Gompertz to open the multimedia art club Volume in North Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In 2005, Becker and Sanders opened the Mexican restaurant and bar La Esquina.
In 2007, Becker joined Simon Hammerstein and Richard Kimmel to open the Neo-Burlesque theater The Box. In 2008, he opened Café Select with Oliver Stumm and Dominique Clausen.
In 2011, Becker partnered with Paul Salmon, brothers Binn and Genc Jakupi, and Meriem Soliman to open the Jamaican restaurant Miss Lily's. In 2012, he opened La Bodega Negra in London with restaurateur Will Ricker and Eddie Spencer Churchill.
In 2016, Becker was appointed creative and artistic director of the Museum of Sex in New York. He oversaw the museum's expansion to two buildings and eight galleries, and led the design and curation of "Superfunland", an immersive exhibition that opened in late 2019.

Nightclubs, restaurants, and hotels

Museums and galleries

Exhibitions

  • 2016: "Night Fever" New York Disco 1977–1979 The Bill Bernstein Photographs
  • 2016: "Sex Lives of Animals"
  • 2017: "Known/ Unknown" Private Obsession and Hidden Desire in Outsider Art
  • 2017: "NSFW – Female Gaze"
  • 2017: "Canon" Juan José Barboza-Gubo & Andrew Mroczek
  • 2017: "Zana Bayne" Stage Costume Anthology
  • 2017: "Celestial Bodies" the Couples Virtual Reality Experience with Diplo
  • 2018: "The Incomplete Araki" Life and Death in the Work of Nobuyoshi Araki
  • 2018: "Leonor Fini" Theatre of Desire 1930–1990
  • 2018: "Punk Lust" Raw Provocation 1971–1985
  • 2019: "Stag": The Illicit Origins of Pornographic Film
  • 2019: "Mariette Pathy Allen" Rites of Passage 1978–2006
  • 2019: "James Bidgood" Reveries
  • 2019: "Superfunland" Journey into the Erotic Carnival

Publications

  • 2000: List Magazine an anthology of lists with co-editor Lisa Ano

Art direction and production design

  • 1992: "I'm a Frayed Knot" Rivington Theatre; Production design
  • 1993: Dido and Aeneas opera at the Academy; Production design
  • 2002: "60 Years Capitol Records" campaign; Creative direction

Music videos and film direction