The Queer Salon #3The Queer Salon #3

The salon brings the two activists modes, queering and cripping, together to explore the multitude of issues that non-compliant bodies face and how they are (under or mis-)represented in culture and heritage institutions.

While queering has become a relatively well-known term in relation to LGBTIQ+ inclusion, the term cripping has not. Cripping concerns the activist representation of and by people with disabilities and challenges ableism in the arts and all aspects of everyday life. It often results in inspiring works of art, performances and life stories which aim to reclaim control and agency over one’s own life in the face of an often disinterested, if not oppressive world.

In the afternoon, we are joined by writer and philosopher Simon(e) van Saarloos, followed by a talk in the evening with author Kenny Fries and Associate Professor of Gender and Diversity Studies Eliza Steinbock (Maastricht University). Fries will talk about the groundbreaking exhibition Queering the Crip, Cripping the Queer, which he compiled for the Schwules Museum in Berlin.

Nieuwe Instituut's exhibition will be open for salon visitors, including Water Cities Rotterdam. By Kunlé Adeyemi featuring the architect's floating water pavilion.

• 14.30: Doors open, with opportunity to look at selected archival materials around the topics of accessibility, cripping and queering
• 15.00: Introduction by Dirk van den Heuvel
• 15.15: Statement by and conversation with Simon(e) van Saarloos
• 16.00: Break, drinks and opportunity to look at selected archival materials around the topics of accessibility, cripping and queering
• 16.30: (De-)Normalising Bodies in and through Space, a conversation around architecture, cripping and queering.
• 17.00: Drinks and visit to the Water Pavilion, part of the exhibition Water Cities Rotterdam. By Kunlé Adeyemi.
• 19.30: Queering the Crip, Cripping the Queer, keynote lecture by Kenny Fries, followed by a Q&A with Eliza Steinbock

For more information and/or questions about accessibility, please contact Fatma Tanış

This event can be also followed online.

Simon(e) van Saarloos is the author of Playing Monogamy, Take ‘Em Down: Scattered Monuments and Queer Forgetting and Against Ageism: A Queer Manifesto. They also write fiction. Recent productions include the short sci-fi story Dreamdead Surrender.

Kenny Fries is an award-winning author and the curator of Queering the Crip, Cripping the Queer, the first international exhibition on queer-disability history and culture, which was on show at the Schwules Museum Berlin.

Eliza Steinbock is the initiator and project leader of the NWO sponsored research project The Critical Visitor: Intersectional Approaches for Rethinking & Retooling Accessibility and Inclusivity in Heritage Spaces.

Dirk van den Heuvel is the head of the Jaap Bakema Study Centre, the research collaboration between TU Delft and the Nieuwe Instituut. His research includes diversity and inclusion matters in architecture and urban planning.

Even after the corona pandemic, it is important to be considerate of each other. This edition of the Queer Salon is specially dedicated to accessibility for people with a (functional) disability, chronic illness or vulnerable immune system. Although past precautions are no longer mandatory, Nieuwe Instituut is committed to providing an accessible, pleasant and healthy environment for our staff and guests. To make it possible for people with fragile health to maximise their participation in this Queer Salon, we ask visitors to wear a face mask. Nieuwe Instituut will provide sufficient masks for attendees. Thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Fatma Tanış of the Jaap Bakema Study Centre: Fatma Tanış

On 2 February 2021, the first edition of The Queer Salon was organised during the Covid-19 pandemic and included a keynote lecture by architect and queer theorist Olivier Vallerand. The second iteration in 2022 explored the hidden histories of various LGBTIQ+ communities and individuals.

Recordings of the previous events are available on our website.

The Queer Salon series is part of The Critical Visitor project, which is sponsored by the Dutch Research Council’s Smart Culture programme. This project investigates how heritage institutions can achieve inclusiveness and accessibility in their organisation, collection and exhibition space, so meeting the multiform demands of today’s critical visitor. In parallel with the Queer Salon series, the project offers a programme of field labs and archival interactions. The Critical Visitor is led by Eliza Steinbock (Maastricht University), Hester Dibbits (Reinwardt Academy, Erasmus University) and Dirk van den Heuvel (TU Delft, Nieuwe Instituut). A consortium of 15 national heritage partners is working on the project.

Nieuwe Instituut manages the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning and is one of the initiators of the Network Archives Design and Digital Culture. Since its foundation in 2013, the Nieuwe Instituut has been experimenting with new, discursive formats in its government-funded role as a heritage institution. In the world of architecture and design – unlike in the arts, the media and the cultural sciences – a queer and intersectional perspective is still very underdeveloped. Therein lies an ambition that The Queer Salon is pursuing in collaboration with the consortium of academic and cultural partners of The Critical Visitor.