QUEER MUSEUM VIENNA
The QUEER MUSEUM VIENNA is a non-profit and self-organised collective which believes in the impact and power of art. We fight against patriarchal structures and engage in activism for LGBTQIA+1 rights.
We, the collective behind the Museum, understand Queer as:
– an umbrella term for the above mentioned acronym of sexual orientations and gender identities that do not conform to traditional cis-heteronormative hegemony
– a political mindset informed by a theoretical and activist approach that breaks down stereotypical thinking to challenge different forms of oppression, particularly when based on gender and sexuality
Our aim is to establish a space for Queer culture and art. In doing so, we make a strong statement for diversity, inclusion and self-determination. We want to create a radically democratic museum with queer structures that mirror our anti-capitalist values. We strive for equity and queer liberation, opposing assimilationist tendencies which suggest that apart from sexual orientations and gender identities, we are the same as mainstream society.
We are trying to represent the Queer communities and do them justice. The range of meanings of the letters in the acronym LGBTQIA+ is broad and therefore it is not possible to cover them all simultaneously or immediately. An incremental approach through our work seems more coherent to us. By means of documentation and archiving, we make it possible to read individual events or works not as singular statements but to link those many fragments together and create a bigger picture.
We apply the same approach when it comes to comprehending the words Queer and Museum that make up the name of the initiative, which we look at from different perspectives in their synergy and their constant transformation.
Queer people have always been there, not as an ahistorical projection but as a way of being, as have artists who negotiate their identity outside of the heteronormative matrix. A necessary step towards writing her-, their- and histories is to gather marginalised narratives and underrepresented artistic positions in one place and make them visible. Despite spotlight exhibitions in various spaces, no major institution in Vienna has so far devoted itself permanently and comprehensively to the subject, either in its collecting activities or in its exhibition practice.
Before moving into our own temporary space we already curated and organised events and exhibitions at Volkskundemuseum Wien, Belvedere21, in Depot, at art universities, art fairs and protests. Through the status of moving around the city, we reach different audiences, spaces and their public relations. It regularly happens that visitors return and find a completely different Queer Museum. In general, we are addressing a heterogeneous audience: people who are already interested in queer issues, potential allies and people who are curious about our collective. Our ideal space is open to the public, inclusive and accessible, irrelevant of financial means, physical and mental abilities.
Our method of Queering the Museum does not claim to already know what a fully Queered museum and what the path to get there would look like. Rather, we want to encourage productive discussion through trial and error processes, gather experience, make contacts and subsequently incorporate feedback and reactions. The boundaries between audience and collective are permeable, as former visitors are welcome to actively contribute to the collective. Thus, we are constructing a flexible foundation for a fluid institution.
The Museum, founded at the beginning of 2020, is a relatively new initiative which operates with limited financial means and is driven mainly by voluntary engagement. It is, however, already assuming its name as an established institution: the founding of a museum as an appropriation of power asserts that Queer art and culture need this space and are taking it now. Functioning as a showcase, the Museum pushes open the window to a queer future, a futurity, to something that it could become.
Queers, take and make your spaces!
1) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer & Questioning, Inter, Asexual & Aromantic +
Contact: team@queermuseumvienna.com