How can public spaces be memorialised through art, and what critical role may sexuality play in this to promote (more) inclusive spaces?

At the heart of this lecture lies a concern with the effacing of sexual minority groups. Drawing from insights gained in the multi-site AHRC-funded research project Queer Memorials with case studies based in the USA, the Netherlands and Poland, the focus of this talk is on a salient case of failure: Tęcza, Polish for 'rainbow'.

Unveiled in Warsaw’s city centre in 2012, this 26m-wide, rainbow-coloured arch by the artist Julita Wójcik was introduced as a symbol of joy, peace and connection. However, the artwork’s largely perceived LGBT+ symbolism met heated opposition from an amalgamation of ethno-nationalist, far-right, and religiously conservative parties.*

The hostility against ‘Tęcza’, or a deemed ‘importation’ of Western LGBT+ rights and values, was accompanied by repeated arson attacks, leading to its destruction and removal in 2015. The social reproduction of Tęcza, spanning immaterial, imagined and digital ‘afterlives’, notably mediated through social media platforms, not only presents a ‘more-than-urban’ reality and post-material narrative after the work’s physical destruction.

The debate about Tęcza continues to mark the increasingly precarious position of LGBT+ people within a growingly conservative national climate. This talk tracks the erratic journey of public engagement with Tęcza and discusses how the politics over (anti-)LGBT+ memorialisation turned this public artwork into a dissonant, or ‘que(e)rying’, monument.

* LGBT+ is an acronym for people who are (self-)identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or any other non-heterosexuality sexuality, including non-binary, asexual, pansexual, and queer (or questioning).

About the speaker

Dr Martin Zebracki is an Associate Professor of Critical Human Geography at the University of Leeds, UK. His research straddles the areas of public art, sexuality, digital culture, and social inclusivity and has been published in journals such as Progress in Human Geography, Urban Studies, and Social & Cultural Geography.

Zebracki is joint editor of the Routledge anthologies Public Art Encounters (with Joni M. Palmer; 2018) and The Everyday Practice of Public Art (with Cameron Cartiere; 2016), and he is Editorial Board Member of Public Art Dialogue. Moreover, Zebracki is the Principal Investigator of Queer Memorials: International Comparative Perspectives on Sexual Diversity and Social Inclusivity, supported by a grant awarded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Personal profile: http://www.zebracki.org.

REGISTER 

Keep up to date with the latest events

_________________

LGBT professionals, LGBT Graduates, LGBT professional network, LGBT professional events, LGBT networking events, LGBT Recruitment, LGBT Friendly organisations, LGBT Friendly companies, LGBT jobs