Organisers: Prof. Dr. Änne Söll, Christian Wandhoff, M.A., Tonia Andresen M.A.
Queerness and queer body practices (cross-dressing, gender-bending) are omnipresent in the artistic practices of the “classical” avant-gardes, as Man Ray’s famous photographs of Marcel Duchamp as Rrose Sélavy show. Nevertheless, there are still few studies on the intersections of queerness, sexual orientation, gender identity and modernist art. Based on Christopher Reed’s argument that homosexuality as an identity is inextricably linked to the emergence of classical modernism, we argue that the historical avant-gardes are unthinkable without queerness. When Jack Babuscio describes queer sensibility as a “creative ‘energy’” that feeds on the knowledge of a world based on social oppression and situated contrary to the norm, the question arises as to whether sexual orientation and gender identity are ontological for the formation of avant-gardes. What role does queerness play for and within classical modernism? And how does this relate to other categories such as race, class, gender and place? Can there be a “sexual avant-garde sensibility”? And if so, to what extent is it necessarily linked to sexual orientation? In this workshop, we would therefore like to examine the intersections of gender identity and sexual orientation in avant-garde movements of the first half of the 20th century and discuss aesthetics, artistic strategies and practices that are (or could be) part of a modern queer sensibility.
We are looking for contributions that deal with a queer avant-garde (ca. 1900-1950) from a multimedia and cultural perspective (dance, fashion, performance, design, photography, painting, collage, performance, theatre, etc.) and discuss the following questions:
– Do artists marginalised by their sexual orientation automatically qualify for the avant-garde? Is “queer sensibility” necessarily tied to the sexual orientation of the artists or can it also be generated by heterosexual artists?
– What did the queer, national and international networks of the avant-gardes look like? What role do collective associations and transcultural connections play in the emergence of a queer avant-garde? In which spaces, contexts and under which conditions could a queer subculture emerge? What role did queer patrons and sponsors play?
– Is a queer avant-garde linked to other revolutionary politics, as has been formulated for the historical Russian avant-gardes?
– If Clement Greenberg imagines the aesthetics of the avant-gardes as contrary to kitsch, how do aesthetics of camp relate to the avant-garde? Is camp a form of queer avant-garde sensibility?
– Was sexuality openly thematised or concealed in the classical avant-gardes? Were there certain ‘queer codes’ that can also be identified in abstract works?
– To what extent were queer artists also involved in the problematic incorporation of modern ideas (othering, exoticisation, etc.) in relation to non-Western subjects? Does a queer sensibility also extend to other factors of marginalisation such as class, race and location?
– How can we (re)write a history of the queer avant-garde? Is there a genealogy of the queer avant-garde?
Early career researchers and established researchers from various disciplines (e.g. art and cultural studies, design, media studies and gender studies, etc.) are invited to apply with a one-page English abstract by e-mail and a short CV of half a page. Presentations of 20-25 minutes plus discussion are planned.
The keynote speaker will be Hongwei Bao (University of Nottingham).
The workshop will be held in English.
Travelling and accommodation expenses will be covered.
Please send your application by september 5th 2024 to Marius Hoffmann: queeravantgarde@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
You can find further information here.