Queer Encounters in the Archive
Queer Encounters in the Archive: Misplaced Love Letters and Autobiographical Homes, examines the act of queering in relation to the Dutch national architecture collection. This research was published in Queering Architecture, an edited volume by Marko Jobs and Naomi Stead.
15 May 2024
This chapter addresses the difficulty of identifying, recovering and (re)writing the experiences and works of queer architects. Pieces of evidence regarding their identities are often missing in their bequests. This absence demands new approaches, which aim to reread the archives ‘against the grain’ in search of traces and clues, that went earlier unremarked.
Through the archives of Onno Greiner, Dick van Woerkom and Wim den Boon, an attempt is made to understand the queerness of these architects, by delving into the designs of their own homes, various types of other personal materials and oral histories.
In addition to this chapter by Dirk van den Heuvel and Martin van Wijk, the book Queering Architecture also contains contributions by Marko Jobst, Naomi Stead, Olivier Vallerand, Sarah Nicholus, Colin Ripley, and others.
The Critical Visitor
The research was done within the framework of The Critical Visitor project, supported among others by the Dutch Research Council. It was also presented in The Queer Salon series.