What sits at the intersection of queer identity and queer art? This SPARKS session brings together artists, technologists, experimentalists, and scholars from queer and queering perspectives. Together as a moderated panel we will openly discuss how contemporary and modern queer art challenges gender and sexuality norms in local and global contexts. We welcome discussions emerging from the fringe, working in retrospective, introspective, and futures that amplify, critique, subvert, and speculate together.
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Gendernaut. Queering the future is a project clearly influenced by queer theories, transfeminist activism and science fiction. It displays a reflection on the potential of various strategies related to accessibility, distribution, socialization and playful reinterpretation of feminist and queer archives. The creation of archives, software programming, audiovisual production, performing performances or developing games thus become artistic strategies for energizing archives, and have a clear desire to make archives that address the memory of people more accessible. feminisms and dissidents of gender and sexuality. Through transmedia and performative experiences, we conceive the archive as a living interactive space, free of heteropatriarchal codes, inhabited by multiple bodies and subjectivities that relate past, present and future to come.
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Rosa Nussbaum and Kevin Brophy present the artist research that led to the creation of Housewives of the Queer Hearth and reflect on how queerness permeates their collaborative practice. Housewives of the Queer Hearth is an interactive media installation exploring a speculative vision of queer feminist architecture and urban planning.
Kevin and Rosa take inspiration from historical utopian feminist urban planners that have been largely overlooked and delve into the gendering of domestic space and places for queerness within architectural traditions. They approach their research with a playful and irreverent flamboyance, allowing their collaboration to be led by their friendship by in-jokes and by the material research that is the romantic relationship of their Sims 4 avatars. In their talk, they explore how play and humour shape artwork into intimate and grandiose forms.
https://rosanussbaum.com/work/housewives-of-the-queer-hearth/
https://www.unfortunatemiddleschooler.com/
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Despite significant historical progress, discrimination and social stigma continue to impact the lives of LGBTQIA+ individuals. The use of AI-generated virtual characters offers a unique opportunity to facilitate advocacy by engaging individuals in simulated conversations that can foster understanding, education, and empathy. This paper explores the potential of AI simulations in helping individuals practice LGBTQIA+ advocacy, while also acknowledging the need for ethical considerations and addressing concerns about oversimplification or perpetuation of stereotypes. By combining technological innovation with a commitment to inclusivity, we aim to contribute to the ongoing struggle for equality in both the legal framework and the hearts and minds of the community. This talk presents our recent study evaluating virtual characters driven by generative conversational AI simulating the social interactions surrounding ‘coming out of the closet’, a rite of passage associated with LGBTQIA+ communities.
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The Cabaret is a series of three-dimensional portraits and videos of LGBTQ communities and their allies around the world. Drag queens, go-go dancers, bar tenders, artists, DJs, nudists, athletes, and some of the regulars are part of a group of unsung heroes that cherish their freedom as artists and outsiders, celebrating their own individuality. All the participants in the project were met in a wide range of social spaces, bars, dance clubs, coffee places, athletic events, and Christmas parties, that reflect the vast culture and dynamics of safe havens that thrive on freedom and self-expression – survival tools to face the rise of fascism in several countries.
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Amorphous is an add-on queer augmented reality learning experience for art galleries and museums, consisting of an identity and wayfinding system as well as a digital archive. The experience was designed to blend seamlessly into traditional museum settings, transforming the printed descriptions on gallery walls into a portal of sorts, leading visitors to a larger network of curated similar or related queer artworks. Using the portable yet powerful mobile device, onsite wayfinding and offsite exploration are both possible. A formerly static gallery or museum is re-imagined once more. The presentation outlines the research and design process of this fascinating project, as well as the curation and development of the starter artist collection. It also includes a user survey with young queer participants, which revealed overwhelmingly positive results.
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This talk will showcase seven of my projects that explore the intersection of computer art and gay lives. These projects delve into various aspects of gay lives, with the main components being generated using programming languages. The projects are categorized into two main forms: interactive art and experimental games. During the talk, I will provide a brief overview of each project and display visual documentation of them. The projects have been in development since 2017, which means it has been a seven-year journey. These artworks are rooted in my personal experience as a diasporic gay Asian man, with an awareness of the broader queer discourse. Using programming languages to engage with gay themes is in the tradition of gay-themed visual arts. My games add to the collection of queer-themed games by merging generative art and game design, with visual assets being generated entirely with code.
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Generative Gender: Exploring Trans Experiences through Digital Systems and Simulationspresents an examination of transgender identities within the realm of generative digital art. This talk will feature two of my works in this space: Marble et Moss (2022) and Thou dost Bleed (2023). Marble et Moss reimagines classic sculptures to reflect trans aesthetics, using a physarum simulation where moss symbolically grows over and transforms marble statues, challenging traditional beauty ideals. Meanwhile, Thou dost Bleed offers an interactive digital and installation experience that questions the association of suffering with womanhood, specifically within a trans feminine context. Both pieces utilise digital media to critique and redefine narratives of gender, embodying a transformative exploration of identity through generative art processes.
https://garden-of-gender.rubyquail.design
https://suffer4me.social/
Xavier Ho is an award-winning designer focusing on the queer independent games community. He is a Lecturer in Interaction Design at Monash University, Visiting Fellow in Sexuality Studies at the University of Sydney, and alumni of the ABC TOP 5 Arts. He initiated and led the curation of Pride at Play, a public queer exhibition that celebrates thoughtful LGBTQIA+ games in Oceania and the Asia Pacific. The exhibition won the Good Design Award in Social Impact in 2023.
Jini Maxwell is a playful curator and award-winning videogame critic. They work at ACMI, Australia’s museum of screen culture, where they curated ‘Out of Bounds: Exploring The Limits of Videogames’, and work as lead curator on ACMI’s centrepiece exhibition, the ‘Story of the Moving Image’. They also work on game-related events including ‘Untitled Goose Game Live’ in collaboration with Orchestra Victoria, and ACMI X WIP night, a monthly meetup for screen creatives to showcase their works-in-progress. Independently, Jini co-curates Gay24 Films, a monthly film night showcasing rare, radical and archival queer films, and previously worked as a creative producer at Freeplay Festival.