At some point in the last decade, trans ceased to be a political sideshow. How do the related social and political developments play out in the art world? Many galleries, art associations and museums nowadays present non-cis artists. But is this all just lip service? A pinkwashing of various art institutions unwilling to dismantle structural discrimination and create spaces where trans people can feel safe and welcome?
Luce deLire and Christian Liclair invite us to a performative discussion of the topic, followed by a Q&A. The event takes place in the context of the current issue of TEXTE ZUR KUNST, which, under the title Trans Perspectives, addresses persistent prejudices, transmisogyny, and anti-Semitism in the art world and its institutions. Trans Perspective refers to a particular trans materialism that takes lived experience as a point of departure for articulating a critique of visibility politics, for example, in order to question how trans materializes in the marketplace, in museums, and beyond. As co-editors, deLire and Liclair conceived the issue and realized it with the TZK editorial team.
Luce deLire is a ship with eight sails and she lays off the quay. As a philosopher, she publishes on the metaphysics of infinity, but also on queer theory, anti-racism, postcolonialism, and political theory. In her performances, she embodies figures of the collective imaginary (for example, in Full Queerocracy Now! Pink Totaliterianism and the Industrialization of Libidinal Agriculture, eflux journal, 2021). On her website getaphilosopher.com, she offers “existential coaching and consulting…beyond consumerism, toward the independent production of theory.”
Christian Liclair is an art historian and critic and has been editor-in-chief of TEXTE ZUR KUNST since 2022.
The talk is part of Mariann Steegmann Institute Kunst&Gender’s Kuvert lecture series and is organized in collaboration with the GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst.
The event will not be live streamed or recorded. As the premises are not barrier-free, we kindly ask for a short pre-registration if we can facilitate or support access.
Claude Cahun. In: “Axeux non Avenus,” 1930. Courtesy of the Jersey Heritage Collection.