Conference
Toronto

For decades, if not centuries, queer culture was counterculture. Much has been said about its profound influence on mainstream culture, particularly in times of aesthetic reorientation (mannerism, fin de siècle, the golden twenties, American pop culture of the 1960s and 1970s). The queer origins of new trends were often concealed.

But with the increasing acceptance of queer lifestyles in urban societies, queer cultural expressions start losing their contrary character and blending into the mainstream.

What forms of queer culture exist today? How does queer contradiction manifest itself in the cultural sector? Is there such a thing as queer culture at all? Do queer artists make queer art? How do they regard themselves? Do we even need queer art?

Four exhibition venues, four panel discussions, four themes: parallel to the exhibition, there will be panel discussions in Toronto, New York, Mexico City, and Berlin. Between June and September 2019, various aspects of current queer discourse will be deliberated under the banner Queer Commonalities – Queer Conflicts: queer resistance, queer culture, queer diversity, and queer establishment. Discussions will take place in English with participants from the US, Canada, Mexico, and Germany. For those unable to attend in person, recordings of the four panels will be made available on this website.