We got used to calling queer art those visual objects that have an aesthetic appeal primarily to gay cis men. However, if we look at its history through a queer lens, we soon discover that queer art does not necessarily have to be represented by just framed paintings or figurative sculptures, but much more ordinary objects that we would otherwise hardly call as art.
The lecture will reflect on the rich material from Czech queer art history and pose a question whether the criteria for queer art are more visual codes that have been appropriated by queer communities across time, or rather social functions in the formation, maintenance and emancipation of queer communities.
Using the examples of prominent queer artists, we can also ask how they stood the ethical tests that the history of the 20th century in Central Europe posed for them, how we can work with these questions in curatorial practice and what they can tell us about our contemporary political situation.
Ladislav Jackson is an assistant professor at the Department of Art History and Theory at the Faculty of Fine Arts, in 2020 he has been appointed as a vice-dean for internationalization there. He teaches courses in 20th Century art and design history and critical theory (queer, feminist and critical race studies). He published numerous books on modern architecture and design, such as Shapes, Colors, Comfort: Furniture Jitona, Myth of an Architect: Jan KotÄ›ra 150, Philosopher of Structures: Architect and Engineer Jaroslav J. PolÃvka. In 2024, he published a collective monograph Images of Queer Desire: Queer Art and Visuality in Czech Lands. He curated multiple queer exhibitions: What a Material: Queer Art from Central Europe (2012), Spaces of Desire (2016), Taste of Honey (2023), Queer Ecologies (2024) and Karol Radziszewski: Nobody’s Gonna Know (2024).
