QUEER BUBBLES
A Long Table discussion on different approaches to queer world- making
Tramway Studio
Wed 22 May 2019 // 5.30pm-7pm
FREE (turn up on day) 

ACCESS: All TMS venues are wheelchair accessible. Please email karl@takemesomewhere.co.uk for further access queries.

Subcultures have always known the need for spaces that allow them room to thrive and blossom, think, re-think and create. Their constant struggle for continuity is part of their reality and in some ways defines subculture as such.

When we speak of spaces that serve the purpose of a specific group’s safety, we often speak of bubbles – the encapsulating worlds that promise relief from the daily threat of erasure, discrediting or even violence.

Most of the time these bubbles are temporary. They can burst easily as the walls which protect their inner living from the outside world are often thin and fragile, and still they are separating their inside living from the outside world. Their inclusion is exclusion from the other side.

In this contemporary climate that has seen increased extremism on the left and right across Europe, the rise of the online echo chamber, call out culture, and social tribalism, what purpose does the queer bubble serve?

Is our role as artists and curators to create safe spaces for the queer community? Ephemeral utopias that offer relief and protection? Does this ever perpetuate queer isolation, or division?

Or do we need to create contexts for dialogue with a wider society? To burst the bubble and connect beyond our comfort group? How do we manage these different approaches and work collectively to build a positive queer future?

Join us for a long table discussion about queer performance and curatorial practices exploring different approaches to queer world making. We’ll be joined by Uta Lambertz who is a programmer from Kampnagel in Hamburg and who recently curated a GenderMainstreaming festival, and Daniel Chelminiak a queer artist and curator of the Queer B-cademy in Hamburg, as well as a range of Scotland based artists and organisers, for a cross Europe exchange.

We invite you to join this discussion whether you have ever been inside a queer bubble or not.

The Long Table is a discussion format devised by Lois Weaver, you're welcome to come and go from the discussion at any point, and can participate, or simply listen.