Queer Perspectives in Early Modern Art
A free offer for everyone as part of the exhibition
‘Gaps, Leaps, Fractures – Queer Temporalities.’
Thu 22.05.2025, 18:00h, QUEER MUSEUM VIENNA
Otto Wagner Areal, former “Direktion”, staircase 2, Hochparterre,
Baumgartner Höhe 1, 1140 Wien
A lecture Kero Fichter
In a world where queerphobia is on the rise and binary gender norms are being reinforced, it is all the more important to look back at our own history – because even in Europe, gender and sexuality were never fixed but always fluid. The visual arts of the Early Modern period (ca. 1500–1800) reveal numerous motifs and narratives beyond cisgender, binary heteronormativity. From cross-dressing heroes and fighting women to gods in love with men – the spectrum of queer expression in the Renaissance and Baroque eras was broad and vibrant.
Although research – thank goddess – has long explored queer aspects of the Early Modern period, major museum exhibitions have so far largely overlooked the topic. Most institutions focus on the period from the 19th century to the present, and when the Early Modern era is addressed, it is usually only on a small scale. This lecture explores how museums can successfully integrate visual representations of queerness in the Early Modern period into their exhibition strategies.
Kero Fichter:
Kero Fichter is an art historian and PhD candidate at the University of Vienna. His research focuses on representations of sexuality, body imagery, and gender relations in Western art – with a particular emphasis on the Renaissance and the 19th to early 20th centuries. From 2021 to 2023, Kero was a curatorial trainee at Hessen Kassel Heritage, where he contributed to the exhibition Old Masters Que(e)rly Read. His dissertation Lust, Fear, and Subversion: Seeing Sex in Art in Germany and Austria 1900–1930 explores, among other things, the intersections of art, pornography, and mass media.
We look forward to your visit!
Admission free – donations welcome
Language: German
This event is supported by:
