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Vor einem pinken Hintergrund ist ein Smartphone auf dem zwei Bilder zu sehen sind. Auf dem einen ist ein schwarzer Hund mit einem Herz. Auf dem Foto darunter sind zwei Hände mit violett Gel-Nägeln, wobei bei der rechten zwei Fingernägel fehlen. Über den Händen steht auf englisch „Rate, ob ich Rechts- oder Linkshänder:in bin“.
Spiegelselfie von Julia Forgacs.
Eine Foto-Collage: Im Hintergrund ist ein Flur eines Archivs mit Regalen zu sehen. Im Vordergrund gibt es zweimal ein Smartphone, auf dem Nachrichten und Bilder angezeigt werden.
(c) Julia Forgacs

A Pocket of Dyke Feelings

online

Julia Forgacs

In the tradition of normative archives, evidence of queer life often tells a story of pathologisation. At the same time, we encounter a great absence where non-normative forms of desire do not meet the requirements of validated historiography and where historical methods fail to map the desire, community, and thus the complexity, of queer pasts. Queer archival work, therefore, demands not only an inclusion of queer subjects on the shelves of knowledge institutions, but a queering of what we understand as history, as knowledge, and as evidence. Queer history has always taken place in private, darkness, and transience. We find its documents in bars, boxes, rumours, fictions, our bodies, and our collective memory. A Pocket of Dyke Feelings is a playful reflection on (queer) archives and the question of how queer knowledge is organised in a cis-heteronormative society. It wants to counter the violent “objectivity” of normative archives with an intimate, interactive, and absolutely incomplete experiment. It invites a reciprocal historiography. Via mobile phone, participants are invited to send in their own fictional and real stories, longings, TikToks, “facts”, favourite dykes, voice messages, or any other ephemera that comes to mind. The contributions become part of the archive and in return, the archive offers back a piece of itself for the participants. This loop continues throughout the festival – once part of the archive, participants can dive deeper into communication, interact with the archive, contribute and examine more fragments, and challenge or critique the endeavor. The focus on Dykes decentralises dominant cis-male perspectives. As an insult, the term “Dyke” has attacked not only lesbian cis-women but a wide range of queer identities. The term’s usage in this work connects to a queer appropriation that opposes any essentialisation of desire or gender. All who feel connected to this history are invited to co-create this archive.

Via mobile phone, participants are invited to send in their own stories, real or fictional, as well as TikToks, “facts”, favourite dykes, voice messages, or any other ephemera that comes to mind. The contributions become part of the archive and in return, the archive offers back a piece of itself for the participants. This loop continues throughout the festival: once part of the archive, participants can dive deeper into communication and interaction with the archive, contribute or examine more fragments, and challenge or critique the endeavor.

TEXT ME YOUR DYKE FEELINGS To participate download the app Wire https://app.wire.com/auth/, which is an encrypted communication app. You can use your phone number or mail address to sign up with a name of your choice. Create a fictions name, add @apocket to your contacts and say hi. The rest will be explained to you as soon as you arrived in the pocket.

Give it a try and negotiate your commitment within. You can always break up or go deeper.

At the end there will be a cozy digital gathering for an archive viewing on Monday 24 May.

—> More informations about the event and the entire festival programme via Nocturnal Unrest

“A Pocket of Dyke Feelings” will grow throughout the whole festival.
The app WIRE is required.
Langiage: German/English