Queer Exhibition Histories – Bas Hendrikx (dir.)

In the histories of art exhibitions that we know, LGBTQIA+ artists and curators have always been underexposed or forgotten. This new title in the PLURAL series focuses on these forgotten and hidden histories, by scrutinizing a wide variety of exhibitions and other presentations by LGBTQIA+ artists and curators.

Queer Exhibition Histories is composed of case studies, interviews and essays that emphasize different queer exhibitions and their modes of presentation and archiving. Many of these projects were short-lived or were executed between the walls of the private or domestic space, far beyond the scope of any institutional recognition. Therefore, the exhibitions materialized on limited budgets, were hardly documented and received barely any media coverage. For this reason, the legacy of these projects is highly dependent on personal archives, memories and paraphernalia, whereof the entries are not always easy to find. The events were not only artistic, but they could equally be discursive, activist and educational, or serve as a tool for community building. At the intersection of queer and contemporary art,queer Exhibition Histories investigates how the efforts of LGBTQIA+ artists and curators have advanced their public presence.