The Queer Archive Festival #3. From May 12 to 22, 2022, with the support of Onassis Stegi

Vassilia Kaga curates the mixed media exhibition “FEMME4FEMME4EVER” at the Haus N Athen gallery, in which eleven queer artists subvert toxic masculinity by reinvigorating femme-ness. With: Rory Midhani, Bunny Tsagkaropoulou, h0tgir1bummrr, Eleni Bagaki, alienprincesshasgreasyhair, Theodora Savvalaridi, Vas Lazaridou, Artemisia Reppa, Sofia Rozaki, Rafael Medina, and Spyros Rennt.
Meanwhile, at Romantso, seven artists of the international queer scene present a series of photographs, collages, video installations, and interactive works that tackle such issues as gender identity, sexual expression, intimacy, acceptance, and connection in the digital/post-Covid era. With: Alina Gross, Callum Leo Hughes, Qingyi Ren, Stiofan O’Ceallaigh, Unseen That, Shia Conlon, and kostis Kontogewrgos.
Additional art events will be announced soon, while Kavla zine issue two is set to be launched at the Hyper Hypo bookstore.

What happens when we start revealing our inner selves to strangers at a table? Israeli artist Jason Danino Holt presents the five-hour participatory performance “Not Letting It In”, where a group of performers from Tel Aviv and Athens exchange personal confessions sat around a table. Together with the audience, they create a zone of freedom, a temporary community, a haven (or hell?), a safe playground. Audience members can come and go as they please during the performance, and are free to share their own confessions. The performance is being presented with the support of the Israeli Embassy to Greece.

Also at Romantso, Sam Albatros – one of the year’s most talked about writers in the Greek publishing scene – will be presenting their performance “Faulty Boy”. The performance is based on their best-selling book of the same title, which is Greece’s first openly queer novel. It’s a hybrid performance that combines video art, family album snapshots, and lip syncs. At its heart is a little one trying to play with any and every toy they’re given, taking in friends, Pokemon, television shows, video games, and the violence of a rural Greek backwater.

The Queer Archive Festival invites you to spend an evening inside the mind of Christos Massalas, who’ll be talking about his creative process when making new work, and about the completion of his latest film – “Broadway” – which is already carving itself an impressive run of screenings at international festivals. And “The Cockettes”, a documentary by David Weissman about the legendary ensemble that defined 1970s pop culture and is still influencing queer culture today, will be presented before audiences at a special screening.

The newly-formed Omgyno enterprise and the curator Xenia Kalpaktsoglou invite you to an afternoon dedicated to self-protection and self-care. The program includes workshops on making lube, as well as talks about queer gynecology and vulva contemplation. When it comes to the question can clubbing be considered exercise and can disco be combined with fitness, the resounding answer is given by two nights at the Romantso club space! DJ Clubkid, Rrose Sélavy and fitness trainer Dimitris Gianoulis are joining forces and inviting us to let our inner Jamie Lee Curtis out in two singular disco aerobics.

Gastronomy meets drag in this astonishing dinner at the Lighthouse Athens by Brown Hotels restaurant. Renowned London-based performer A Man to Pet serves up a drag dinner with an Omonia Square view, and with a menu specially designed and prepared by the acclaimed chef Vassilis Kallidis, who was inspired by the gastronomic history of the area from the 1950s right through to the present day. Music and dance, high-spirited interludes and haute cuisine are brought together in this singular meal experience for a select number of diners.

The festival is hosting a Karaoke Extravaganza for every wannabe pop star on the Romantso roof, with special guests Nalyssa Green and Kristof, and hosted by A Man to Pet. And the major, now classic Queer Archive Festival Party is coming to the Romantso club space, with special guest Thoughtknot (Ninja Tunes) – thrower of the legendary R&She parties at clubs in London, Berlin, New York, and elsewhere. Also on the decks are Athens’ K.atou and Clubkid.