The Queer Salon #4
The fourth edition of the Queer Salon goes beyond the walls of the institute to focus on the garden as a queer sanctuary. Together with guests such as landscape architects Joost Emmerik and Riek Bakker, and artist Frank Bruggeman, we will explore the archives of the landscape designers Michael van Gessel, Yves Brunier, and Riek Bakker, and take a stroll through the New Garden and the Museumpark.
18 June 2024 12:00 - 15:00
The Queer Garden
In landscape design, gardens and parks are a classic metaphor for the earthly expression of paradise. At the same time, we also know gardens and parks to be important queer spaces, from safe havens to places for chance encounters. Well-known references include the almost mythical garden of filmmaker Derek Jarman and José Muñoz’s manifesto for a “cruising utopia”.
In addition to exploring the garden and park as a “safe space” for outsiders and a place for chance encounters, we will also consider the memory of gardens and nature, and the possibility of them being an archive in their own right. The Museumpark and the New Garden have changed considerably in recent years. Can we still see traces of their earlier designs, and with them past histories?
Programme
- 14:00 Walk-in at Nieuwe Instituut
- 14:15 Introduction by Dirk van den Heuvel
- 14:30 Notes on archival pieces by Stef Dingen
- 14:45 In conversation with Joost Emmerik, Frank Bruggeman, and Riek Bakker
- 16:30 Stroll through the Nieuwe Tuin and the Museumpark
- 17:00 Drinks by the Henket Pavilion at Boijmans Van Beuningen
The Queer Salon series
The first edition of the Queer Salon in 2021, with a keynote lecture by architect and queer theorist Olivier Vallerand. The second edition in 2022 explored the hidden histories of LGBTIQ+ communities and individuals. The third edition in 2023 focused on cripping activism in the arts and the inclusion of queer people with disabilities. 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.
Rotterdam Architecture Month
This event is part of the Rotterdam Architecture Month programme, which takes place in and around the Museumpark throughout the month of June. See our other activities.