Queer as German Folk
Impressions San Francisco

The James C. Hormel LGBTIQ+ Center on the third floor of the Main Library in San Francisco is a library, a meeting place, and a venue for exhibitions and events. This lively place of exchange and discussion about gender diversity is where the main part of the exhibition Queer as German Folk is on view. A small portion of the exhibition is at the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library. Located in a LGBTIQ neighborhood, the latter segment of the exhibition primarily serves to promote its main part at the Hormel Center.

Exhibition “Queer as German Folk” San Francisco Exhibition announcement at the entrance to the San Francisco Public Library | © Goethe-Institut USA

The exhibition in the San Francisco Public Library is noticeable from a distance. Visitors move towards the heart of the Hormel Center through the various stations spread across the hallways. The exhibition layout was adjusted in response to the specificity of the space and impressively frames the historical reappraisal on view. Jim Van Buskirk curated the San Francisco iteration of the exhibition and placed its local references directly under the first panels. From the very beginning, this establishes a link between the various moments of queer movement history in Germany highlighted in the exhibition and the long and complex queer history of San Francisco.

Visitors can expect a critical examination of the politics, aesthetics, and dynamics of queer resistance. Dedicated to previously neglected perspectives of the movement’s history, the exhibition at the Hormel Center merges these insights with the history and significance of both the exhibition venue and the city of San Francisco.