There is a paradox in the way democratic bodies, such as the Ville de Paris, imagine re-wilding. As a ‘wild’ aesthetic for urban nature becomes mainstreamed, marginal zones are being opened up and re-formulated as public spaces, managed to promote biodiversity and ‘healthy’ modes of public life. In the process, ‘wild’ forms of life that have found shelter in this marginality, and are framed as unclean and illicit, are policed out of existence – cruising, free parties, and informal shelter. This gathering will think through queer perspectives on public space and ecology, and enact queer modes of trans-species encounter, to open up a broader idea of wilding, that multiplies rather than limits possibilities for more-than-human culture.
Alexander Auris (UC Louvain) Anna-Louise Milne (ULIP) Anneleen Arnout (Artist) Barbara Palacios (Architect) Benny Nemer (Artist / KASK) Bénédicte Gattère (Paris 8) Clément Grosset (Architect) Conor Moloney (QMUL) Cy Lecerf Maulpoix (Writer) Emma Bigé (Philosopher) Estelle Broyer (QMUL) Ghassan Salameh (Curator)
Hadley Beeken (ULIP) Katherine Stansfield (QMUL) Leon Hughes (QMUL) Luc Sanciaume (Architect) Nia Manoylo (CSM) Nicole Edwards (ULIP) Regan Koch (QMUL) Romain Muller (CERN) Ryan Montgomery (ULIP) Sarah Jane Harper (QMUL) Will Monteith (QMUL)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JpViQpYEPc
The day’s conversations moved between queer spaces, queer forms of practice, ecological intimacy as a form of politics, and cruising as a space of experimentation for this kind of intimacy. The working paper recounts and interprets the day’s conversations and their connections.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/edit?mid=1bg-i8LIWsI26zAH9g_bSsNn3_ulWvt4&usp=sharing
Benny Nemer reflected on aspects of his artistic research that turns toward gay sex cruising both aesthetically and methodologically, and led participants through a guided audio walk that facilitates an erotic encounter with a tree. The guide can be found at treesarefags.eu