WHAT HAPPENED IN HAMBURG...
During our time in Hamburg we attended the Queer B-Cademy festival curated by Daniel Chelminiak and Naomi Odhiambo, at Kampnagel.
Queer B-Cademy is a performance art festival, revolving around queer utopian practice, cultivation of intersectional solidarity and futurist assertion.
In 2020 they presented HOUSE OF HOPE – the first part of the TRILOGY OF TOMORROW - setting out on a visionary journey within their own four walls. How do we experience being at home, where and under what conditions do we feel at home? What if we have never felt that way? For four days Kampnagel was transformed into a home, with a bathroom, open-plan living room and a play area. The festival had a fluidity to its form, presenting a range of performances, workshops, discussions, films, installations, parties, bands and DJs.
We were excited to encounter work by the following artists:
QUEER B-CADEMY FESTIVAL
As part of the festival we hosted a workshop called 'The Making of Pinocchio'. This was an opportunity for us to open up our current process, in which we are creating a semi-autobiographical trans version of Pinocchio. It responds to our own ongoing experiences of gender, and questions what it means to be seen as 'real'.
As queers are we trying to mould ourself into existing categories in order to be seen as real? Are we creating new identities and asking that they be legitimised as real? Or are we in the act of undermining notions of realness altogether?
We watched Disney's Pinocchio with the participants and made our own makeshift costumes and performances in response to the film and the above questions. We discussed the importance of fantasy in queer world making and pretended to be logs full of desire.
THE MAKING OF PINOCCHIO WORKSHOP
B E C O M I N G R E A L // D I S M A N T L I N G R E A L N E S S
QUEERPOOL PERFORMANCE CLUB NIGHT
In order to understand more about the wider queer community in Hamburg outside of Kampnagel, Danny and Uta invited us to QUEERPOOL x Ouevre Interstellar Climax, a queer techno club night with live performances.
The organisers were focused on ensuring this was a safe space for queers to party, meaning that we were greeted with a list of rules before entering. The rules were largely focused on how we interact with others, respecting boundaries. Inside the club there was a sense of freedom that we enjoy in German clubbing environments - people able to take their clothes off if they wish, all night parties, a dark room for sexual activity. This shows a level of respect for party goers freedom and autonomy over their own safety that the law in the UK doesn't afford us.
When does one person's idea of safety mean someone else's oppression?
We saw the following acts:
Drag Show: hosted by Cutest Ever
https://www.instagram.com/cutestever.jpg/
Performer:
Afure
https://www.instagram.com/peripheralgirl/
Buba Sababa
https://www.instagram.com/buba__sababa/
xixinthemorning
https://www.instagram.com/xixinthemorning/