Trikster Blog

On the 18th and 19th of May, The Society of Queer Studies in Finland hosts the conference “Queer Futurities, Today: Utopias and Beyond in Queer Theory” at ICI in Berlin.

The conference takes its outset in Lee Edelman’s critique of the “reproductive futurism” in his notorious 2005 book No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. The seminar interrogates the term “futurities,” questioning ideas of progressive time and homonormativity. (Read more about the background here).

At the conference, Lee Edelman will hold a keynote entitled “Against Survival: Queerness in a Time that’s Out of Joint”.

Other speakers are: Tomasz Jarymowicz, Volker Woltersdorff, Annamari Vänskä, Jan Wickman, Tuula Juvonen, Tatjana Greif, Katerina Kolarova, Kevin S. Amiddon, Antu Sorainen, Heike Bauer, Christien Garcia, Jin Haritaworn, Željko Blaće & Milo DePrieto, Thomas O. Haakonson, Katherine Wiedlack, Harri Kalha, Alexis Lothian, Tomasz Basiuk, Eveline Kilian, Philip Pass, Anu Koivunen.

See the program in detail here, and read the abstracts - they look great.

The summer is approaching, and the planning of this years’ queer festivals is moving ahead. Here are some dates and places in Europe:

5-10 May: Queer Zagreb, Croatia (Facebook)

12-25 May: Queer Up North - International Festival, Manchester, UK

21-25 May: Queer Insurrection, Leeds, UK

4-7 June: entzaubert - a radical queer DIY film festival in Berlin, Germany

5-7 June: Off_Pride - The Alternative Queer Festival in Zurich, Switzerland

6-12 July: Jafnaðr - Nordic Queer Youth Festival, Malungen, Norway

20-26 July: Copenhagen Queer Festival, Denmark

11-15 August: Aalborg Queer Festival, Denmark

20-23 August: Oslo Queer Festival, Norway (myspace)

14-20 September: The Nights and Days of Tribads, Helsinki, Finland

If you have more information about places and dates, leave a comment.

Even though Queeruption in Rome is cancelled, the summer is full of queer events. Here are some of them:

April 4 - 12: Transformer - Queer Festival, Bruxelles, Belgium (read more).

April 30 - May 2: Noc Walpurgii (The Valpurgis Night festival) Warsaw, Poland (read more).

May 15 - 18: Entzaubert Queer Film Festival, Berlin, Germany (read more).

May 31: Queerlitteraturdagen (The Day for Queer Literature) in Gothenburg, Sweden (read more).

June 6 - 8: Århus Queer Festival, Denmark (read more).

June 25 - 29: Queer-and-Rebel Days at Schwarzer Kanal in Berlin, Germany (read more).

July 14 - 20: Jafnaðr - Nordic Queer Youth Festival, Norway (read more).

July 21 - 27: Copenhagen Queer Festival, Denmark (read more).

August 4 - 10: Aalborg Queer Festival, Denmark (read more).

August 14 - 16: Oslo Queer Festival, Norway (read more).

September 18 - 21: Queer Beograd, Serbia (read more).

entzaubert is a radical queer D.I.Y. film festival, which will take place from 15 - 18 May 2008 in Berlin on the queer squatted truck site, schwarzer kanal.

The festival aims at creating a space for queer films, their directors and their audience. This is the second time the festival is organized, and it will be 4 days in the open air with films which question heteronormativity and capitalism, promote diversity and deconstruction of socially accepted constructions.

The organizers have published a call for contribution of movies within or beyond these categories:

D.I.Y., queer, non-commercial, documentaries, no-borders, arty, punky, anarchic, porn, trash, feminist, funny, serious, low-budget, no-budget, music, international, homo-socialist, homosexualist, revolutionary, poly-amourous, lazy, tranny-dyky, faggy, old, brand-new, provocative, difficult, hot, …

Deadline for submission is April 15.

Read more at entzaubert’s homepage and myspace.

For the second time, this summer, Schwarzer Kanal in Berlin arranges Queer-and-Rebel Days. From June 25 - 29 the rebel days will be filled with workshops, actions, events, and parties!