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https://closetdemonstrations-gain.univie.ac.at/, https://closetdemonstrations-gain.univie.ac.at/solidarity-with-ukraine/

Closet Demonstrations, Semmelweisklinik, Hockegasse 37/Haus 4, Vienna (2026)

03/03/2024

We are very honored to have hosted a discussion “Art and its conditions of (im)possibility. A q***r conversation” with Olenka Syaivo Dmytryk, Vishnia Vishnia, Tonya (Ton) Мelnyk and Masha Ravlyk Lukianova, moderated by Lesia Pagulich.

This combination of a mini-lecture and a discussion by Ukranian scholars, artists, and activists invites everyone to a conversation about the conditions of (im)possibility for art creation: from material conditions of cultural production to geopolitical conditions influencing gender and sexual dissent. The war against Ukraine aggravated by global health and political crises creates new challenges and vulnerabilities for transgender and q***r artists. What are the conditions of art production and ‘q***r visibility’ in these circumstances? What can art offer for contemporary urgencies and practices of resistance? Participants will talk about wartime Ukraine, cherishing q***r voices and reflecting upon the conditions of possibility for artistic transnational solidarity against imperial violence and a multitude of oppressions.

This event is for a broad audience, anyone interested in questions of art and q***r voices, as well as experiences of war and its influence on cultural production. While the event foregrounds the experiences of transgender and q***r people, the intended audience is not limited to LGBTQ communities. We envision this event as an invitation for a broad public conversation about the importance of q***r voices and art in resistance against imperial violence and a multitude of oppressions.

02/03/2024

Optics of Q***r Migration - a discussion and a text by Ewa Maczynska & Tegiye Birey with Henry Dennis.

What does the adjective “q***r” do to the noun “migration”?

Deemed strange and out of place, q***rness and migration catch each other’s eye. As long as the citizen is naturalized as the primary subject of politics, the migrant will stay an overgeneralized and ambiguous caricature lacking rights and emitting difference, coloured in by strokes of racialisation, fetishisation and pathologization. And as long as the normative citizen is depicted as cisgender and heterosexual, q***rness will likely evoke an alienation from majority norms and related resources. This mirroring effect sets up the stage for optical dilemmas q***r bodies on the move face, but does not exhaust them.

The question of q***r migration gained popularity in academic, activist, and artistic circles in the past three decades with a focus on the experiences and needs of people whose migration is perceived to be dictated by their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. The q***r migrant is often thought of as a person who embarked on the migratory route because they are q***r and thus they migrate with a hope to find themselves in a more "q***r-friendly" social and political environment, or whose experience of migration is primarily shaped by their q***rness. While we recognize the importance of such conceptualizations in face of the systematic erasure of related needs and experiences, we are also curious to complexify this narrative by investigating how the construction and management of each of those categories, q***r and migrant, influences the other. We recognize migration and q***rness as regimes of power through which subjects are constructed and governed through immigration policies, racialized narratives of citizenship and belonging, global lgbtq discourses, pinkwashing, homophobic policies as well as q***r progressive narratives that aim to reject but also often reproduce the legitimacy of heteronormative and middle-class social norms such as respectability and productivity.

Full text available in the exhibition catalogue in English, Italian and Georgian, pages 100-111.

01/03/2024

Dendrocoelum lacteum (Planaria) by Marina Leo Shamov

The video installation “Dendrocoelum lacteum (Planaria)” is a five-step tutorial about establishing connections with Planaria and accessing the bodily knowledge of asexual reproduction.
Reproduction of Dendrocoelum lacteum (thereafter Dl) occurred asexually from somatic cells. There are several types of asexual reproduction; Dl is characterized by strobilation, which means that new Dl individuals accumulate through rearrangement of the body of the parent individual. The strobilation theory describes how the metameric bodies of animals historically arose through the division of the body of an individual into similar segments. Dl retains pluripotency, which can be translated as “the possibility of development according to different scenarios”.

Dl becomes the starting point for the formation of one more metaphor for q***r identity. Decaying body-sets grow into adulthood, making changes in their mental structures. Bodies are neuroplastic and fall into evolutionary memory and species kinship. The body-sets genes contain knowledge about non-human beings and prehistoric ancestors, as well as those images that we usually consider having never existed outside the human imagination.

The video installation “Dendrocoelum lacteum (Planaria)” invites the audience to follow the tutor's instructions and practise becoming a Dl through body, voice, and imagination practices.

The project description is available in Bashkir, Tatar and English in the exhibition catalogue, pages 43-44.

Photos by Cansu Tandoğan

29/02/2024

Trumu Fe**sh - The Shrine by Amaqhawekazi Emafini Malamlela.

Which supernatural or higher being may Transgender and Non-binary people venerate when God's pronouns are His/him? What is the purpose of the body when engaging in forms of spirituality? Trumu Fe**sh – The Shrine is a multidisciplinary artwork building a world of faithfulness. The artwork’s centre is the sacredness of rituals by Transgender people and unearthing the veneration of a Transgender deity. The shrine is an intimate experience with the priestess before the encounter with the deity. Your patience is the key to this journey. Do not give up. We will see you on the other side.

The project description is available in Fante, IsiXhosa and English in the exhibition catalogue, pages 27-28.

Photos by Cansu Tandoğan.

28/02/2024

Textile book of stories about clothes 2 by ReSew collective.

Textile book of stories about clothes 2 (Textile stories, Book 2) was created in Kyiv in November and December 2021 during a series of workshops held by Tonya (Ton) Melnyk and Masha Ravlyk in the ReSew sewing cooperative working space.
The subject of the book was a personal story about clothes. Each page was filled in textile using mixed techniques: patchwork, collage, stencils, embroidery, and others. At some point, an understanding of the political nature of the visual statement came: it was about poorness, about women’s and not cis experience, about body shape and selfcare, about relationships with dear people, ecological behavior, attitude to clothes, and other topics.
In general, there were 10 participants who created 11 stories. All were working in quite a flexible way, discussing with Ton and Masha a comfortable time for them to come to the workshop, use the equipment and have consultations. Each person was working by themselves, but hosts were helping with technical things and advice. All of this made the process of sewing the book very comfortable, safe, and supportive.
We present the book together with a podcast about all the stories, told by the participants of the workshops.

The artwork description is available in Ukrainian, German and English in the exhibition catalogue, pages 53-54.

Photos by Cansu Tandoğan

27/02/2024

Transition Diaries by Finn, aka Animal Bro.

Transition Diaries is a series of comics following KweerKat on their journey through early transition - a liminal space with few true allies. Addressing the invisibility of transmasculine people and FTMs in both mainstream and q***r spaces, these stories give a first-person view of everyday situations.
They are an intimate, honest, vulnerable and unfiltered document of all the big and the small experiences of coming out of the closet and transitioning. The social, political, medical and cultural all intersect at the personal.
By sharing these most intimate thoughts, KweerKat pushes against narratives of objectification and instrumentalisation, and encourages others to come out and to reject paranoia, self-censorship, and the paradox of belonging through fulfilling expectations that are ultimately always normative.

This work is part of a larger cycle exploring and expressing the trans experience from a personal perspective. The protagonist, KweerKat, is the artist's own alter ego and the stories are always based on true events.
Though the subject matter of stereotyping, objectification, instrumentalisation and dehumanisation can be conflicting or difficult, the focus is always on avoiding blame or judgement, and on having a positive impact instead by providing insight and allowing people to empathise, and ultimately form their own opinions.

The project description is available in Serbian, German and English in the exhibition catalogue, pages 29-30.

Photos by Cansu Tandoğan

26/02/2024

The pathway to the goats by Clémentine Roy and Marta Orlando.

The video is suspended between visible and invisible le***an desire and le***an cruising as an act of reclaiming outdoor spaces and territories. After centuries of le***an presence and absence in the closet, we think that it is time to feel connected with the outdoor and explore our desires within nature, seen as a lover, not a mother. We are developing a wider research about the whistling language as a coded form of communication, framed as a tool which connects us with other inter-species, too. The act of cruising is seen as an act of resistance of bodies and behaviours which escapes what is considered normativity.

The film description in French, Italian, and English is available in the exhibition catalogue, pages 33-34.

23/02/2024

Verses of Filth by Naomi Rincón Gallardo

In Verses of Filth, a disoriented Mesoamerican deity has become a scavenger digging in the wasted land in search of residues of fragmented bodies and cultural debris. Together with a gang of vultures, she sparks a residual insurrection of a brigade of undomesticated arms and underworld creatures who reclaim to become undead in search for touch and pleasure. In Mesoamerican worldviews, vultures are sacred creatures who access the underworld when they enter the head into a co**se. They are the great purifiers who eat the debris, what is rotten and death. The arms raising from the tomb insist on clenching into a fist as a sign of protest, but they also try to connect with others, in the search of caressing others, repairing, documenting, snapping and reading words that give an account of their existence. The title “Verses of filth” refers to a Nahua funerary chant, Tzocuicatl, which was an escatological ritual aiming to drain the filth and stench of the death body as well as accompanying the pain caused by the death of a beloved person.

The artwork description is available in Nahuatl, Spanish and English in the exhibition catalogue, pages 49-50.

Pictures:
1 still from the film
2, 4 by Cansu Tandoğan
5,7,8 by Anna T.

22/02/2024

“S l i p p e r y Recollective States of Consciousness II” by İlhak Alltıparmak

The series “S l i p p e r y Recollective States of Consciousness II” can be read as a tacit narration of a subjective, lubricious, and unfixable remembrance. Central presence of the male body in the work entails an inquiry of the concept of “masculinity” in terms of image and content. Carrying symbolic tattoos on their bodies on the stage of the hammam, these men fit in the framing of voyeurism. Beyond its tangible qualities, the dualism of space and body is indicative of a conceptualization of the holistic unity of the self considering the vital acts the self performs.

The artwork description is available in Turkish, Kurdish and English in the exhibition catalogue, pages 39-40.

21/02/2024

The Deities' Closet by Pêdra Costa

"The Deities' Closet is an art installation featuring performance activations inspired in
Q***r Deities and uses the concept of the bu****le as a portal. It offers a unique
perspective on the closet, highlighting its significance as a sacred space for rituals
and the discovery of hidden mysteries, presented in an artistic and non-religious
manner.

Both an individual journey and a celebration of self, the closet becomes a sanctuary
for engaging in ritualistic practices within its enclosed confines, fostering personal
connections with Goddesses and Gods.

Throughout history, witchcraft and q***rness have been forced into the confines of
the closet, necessitating secrecy for survival. However, it is important to
acknowledge another aspect of this narrative. Historical accounts reveal that within
pre-colonial communities, q***r individuals held esteemed positions as spiritual
leaders, thanks to their ability to bridge the physical and spiritual realms. They were
integral and respected figures within their respective communities.

This artwork draws inspiration from the Q***r Deities depicted in the book "Cassell's
Encyclopedia of Q***r Myth, Symbol and Spirit: Gay, Le***an, Bisexual and
Transgender Lore" by Randy P. Conner, Mariya Sparks, and David Hatfield Sparks."

Artwork description is available in Brazilian Portuguese, English and German in the exhibition catalogue, pages 51-52.

20/02/2024

coming full circle only to loop back over by Sophia Yuet See

"coming full circle only to loop back over uses intimate texts and the motif of the
loop to explore the repetitive, messy and fragmented nature of memory, obsession,
trauma, marginalisation and the systemic cycles of oppression and capitalism. This
piece reflects on the liminal space of being a q***r, Asian person; how
heteronormativity, q***rphobia, colonialism and white supremacy converge, and
the complexity and erasure of my q***rness as a result of my non-whiteness —
‘being in the company of white people, you can never fully leave your body behind
and its ideologies.’ The diagrams and texts draw parallels with the cyclical patterns
of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, examining the connections between
oppression, racism, trauma, hypervigilance and OCD, and how they inform each
other."

artwork description available in Chinese, German and English in the exhibition catalogue, pages 59-60.

Closet Demonstrations

03/03/2024

02/03/2024

01/03/2024

29/02/2024

28/02/2024

27/02/2024

26/02/2024

23/02/2024

22/02/2024

21/02/2024

20/02/2024

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