Basement, one of New York City’s most talked-about contemporary clubs, has drawn a hard line on smart glasses. The Knockdown Center-adjacent venue announced the policy on social media this week, framing it as an extension of its existing no photo/no video rules rather than a standalone crackdown. The club’s reasoning centers on privacy: devices capable of discreet recording, it argues, are fundamentally at odds with protecting everyone on the dancefloor.
The enforcement is notably strict. Smart glasses brought into the venue, whether worn or simply carried in a bag, can get a patron asked to leave, with repeat or serious offenders facing a permanent ban. That’s a stricter standard than most no-phone policies, which typically only address active use rather than mere possession.
The move places Basement alongside a growing list of clubs pushing back against always-on recording culture, echoing the door-and-floor ethos long associated with venues like Berghain. The timing isn’t incidental, smart glasses from major consumer tech platforms have been steadily gaining adoption, putting discreet recording capability into far more pockets than it used to be. 
