Exhibition
Queer as German Folk

Sat, 09/12/2020 -
Sun, 10/25/2020
Goethe Pop Up Houston

Queer as German Folk celebrates the intersectional histories of Germany’s and America’s diverse LGBTIQ+ communities. After stations in Germany and Goethe-Instituts in North America, the exhibition is now on view at the Goethe Pop Up Houston and includes select moments from Houston’s LGBTIQ+ history.

Experience the queer movement past and present from September 12 to October 25, 2020 during the following opening hours: Saturdays 11AM-6PM and Sundays 1-6PM.

HEALTH & SAFETY GUIDELINES

The exhibition space and all surfaces will be sanitized regularly. Capacity will be limited to five visitors at a time. We kindly ask that groups of 5+ email us prior to your visit at info-houston@goethe.de.

In order to safely enjoy the exhibition, all guests are required to wear face coverings and gloves when in the exhibition space and handling any exhibition materials. Disposable face masks and gloves will be provided to any guest who needs them. All guests are required to maintain social distancing and follow marked signs. If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach us at info-houston@goethe.de

About the exhibition:

As a joint project of the Goethe-Institut New York, Schwules Museum Berlin, and the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Queer as German Folk takes the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots as an opportunity to offer an insight into the history of queer movements in the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, and reunited Germany since the 1960s. Particular emphasis is placed on the manifold relations with US movements.

The exhibition highlights moments of the queer movement’s history without claiming to tell the only possible story. Just like the debate about the legacy of the Stonewall Riots, it questions the power dynamic at work in the queer politics of memory. What is under fire today is the appropriation of the riots by those parts of the movement that, in their struggle for social acceptance, lost sight of its radical goals and of the cause of many of its heroes: dykes, drag queens, trans people, sex workers, and young people living in precarious conditions, among them many queer people of color. Perhaps above all else, this debate shows that resistance from civil society is still necessary in the 21st century and must be reinvented again and again.

A digitally modified version of Queer as German Folk and a full program of virtual events is presented by the Goethe-Institut in North America in collaboration with its Goethe  Pop Ups and the Schwules Museum Berlin (SMU). The full program can be found here.