OTHERNESS ARCHIVE X QAMERAD

SHARED CAMERA/DERIE: QUEERS SHOOT BACK!

QUEER CINEMA WORKSHOPS AND SCREENINGS

LONDON, SEPTEMBER 8-15, 2024

We are excited to have Rizky Rahad join us in London from Indonesia-based collective QAMERAD. During his time here he will conduct three workshops with Otherness Archive titled Queers Shoot Back! examining the liberatory potentials of various queer aesthetics of escape as an alternative strategy to representation.

More information below how to join these FREE workshops and screenings below!

Workshop Synopsis

Representation as a political/aesthetic strategy can benefit queer communities as it can potentially lead to social acceptance. But in a neoliberal society, where queer visibility is increasingly co-opted not only to make profits for big corporations but also to give States more control over their citizens, how do we collectively move beyond representation and find a more radical route to liberation? This is crucial for communities whose representations have only made them more surveilled, persecuted, and tortured by various institutions of power. Queer theorists like José Esteban Muñoz and Zach Blas propose alternative politics that convey the desire for queer communities to escape regimes of control, from State violence to neoliberal co-optation, and cultivate forms of living otherwise––a queer “utopia.”

Bringing queer escapist theories in conversation with his filmmaking and ethnographic experiences with various queer communities in Indonesia, QAMERAD co-founder Rizky Rahad will conduct three workshops with Otherness Archive examining the liberatory potentials of various queer aesthetics of escape as an alternative strategy to representation. Through discussion Rizky will share queer methodologies that critically restage the violent system of LGBTQ+ representation/archive into collective care.

These workshops will culminate in a final film programme at Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest showcasing contemporary moving images from Indonesia of various genres that offer a new aesthetic of escape––folklore and mythologies––as a strategy to speculate our collective (queer) future.

Workshop Breakdown

Workshop #1: The Queer Aesthetics of Escape

Through discussion of various texts and films, we will explore the liberatory potentials of opacity and excess—the queer aesthetics of escape, as a means to escape current regimes of control, from State violence to neoliberal co-optation, and cultivate new forms of living otherwise.

Workshop #2: Restaging Queer Archives as Collective Care

We will break down alternative praxis and methodologies that materialise collective care by restaging the violent system of LGBTQ+ representation/ archive and weaponizing the film projector. With a screening of Rizky’s short film House of Rencong and discussion of Bali-based film collective QAMERAD.

Workshop #3: Folklore as Speculative Queer Future(s).

An exploration of folklore and mythologies as aesthetics of escape that speculate collective queer future(s). We will dissect several contemporary moving images from Indonesia that reject Western identity/visibility politics and reimagine queer liberation/care through collectively turning back to pre-colonial representations of gender nonconformity.

Access Info

(We have limited space due to limited resources, please be mindful before booking and only do so if you’re 100% sure you can make it. We will send a confirmation email by Wednesday, September 4. We believe that an intimate space makes for better learning, therefore our workshops are capped at 20 people.)

General Project’s Description

This program is part of SHARED CAMERA-DERIE, a collaborative film project merging two queer and trans-centred communities––Otherness Archive from London and QAMERAD from Bali––to create a long-term partnership utilising alternative modes of cinema making and sharing that sustains and elevates transnational queer solidarity. Supported by the British Council’s Connection Through Culture Grant, this 7-month long collaboration will be a cross-residency of the two founders––Sweatmother in Bali and Rizky Rahad in London––where they will both engage with their opposite communities through workshops and focus on topics such as collective memory, ethical curations and collaborative watching. The two final programmes in Bali and London will be a collective experience encouraging community engagement where the line between artists, organisers, and audience is blurred.