The Queer Archive Festival #3. From May 12 to 22, 2022, with the support of Onassis Stegi
The Queer Archive Festival is expanding and evolving to fill ten days with an original, playful and bold program of mixed media experiences.
“Faulty boy” by Sam Albatros
Open and accessible to all, the festival that won over Athens audiences is this year staying true once more to spotlighting new talent, while also supporting established Greek and international artists. The Queer Archive Festival’s goal is to showcase the constantly evolving queer arts scene, which reflects contemporary queer culture, celebrates diversity, and promotes inclusivity. Exhibitions, performances, talks, gastronomy, karaoke nights, workshops, drag shows, parties, and more will all be running in parallel for ten days at various venues across the heart of Athens, centered around Omonia Square.
For a third consecutive year, the festival is being supported by Onassis Stegi, which is positioning the cultural sphere as a protest space for human rights activism when it comes to clear LGBTQI+ community rights that are not yet a given.
What’s on at this year’s festival:
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.
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.
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Photo: Javier Cerrada
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"Not letting it in" by Jason Danino Holt
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Φωτογραφία: Alina Gross
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.
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Drag Dinner: La Drag Boufee
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From "Broadway and beyond" by Christos Massalas
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“The Cockettes” by David Weissman
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Omgyno