Ugly Things_Unlearning Beauty

What’s classy if you’re rich but trashy if you’re poor?
This is one possible translation of the title into meme-fied language.

Ugly Things_Unlearning Beauty walks the fine line that distinguishes the affinity for cheap trash from expensive taste, while simultaneously undermining that very dichotomy. We closely examine the authority that decides who and what has a place in the museum and is thus deemed valuable enough to gain entrance, visibility and longevity.

João Pedro Vale + Nuno Alexandre Ferreira Não é o homossexual que é perverso, mas a situação em que ele vive (Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sonden die Situation, in der er lebt/ It is not the homosexual who is perverse, but the situation in which he lives), 2020.
João Pedro Vale + Nuno Alexandre Ferreira Não é o homossexual que é perverso, mas a situação em que ele vive (Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sonden die Situation, in der er lebt/ It is not the homosexual who is perverse, but the situation in which he lives), 2020.

Ugly Things_Unlearning Beauty

26.09.2025 – 14.12.2025

OPENING: Fr 26.09.2025, 18:30 h, QUEER MUSEUM VIENNA

Otto Wagner Areal, C-building, former “Direktion”, Stair 2, Mezzanine,
Baumgartner Höhe 1, 1140 Wien

Opening program:

Guided tour through Ugly Things with exercises of Unlearning Beauty 19h/19:30h

Performance by Daniel Rajcsanyi (durational)

DJ: JOIE DE F:LLE (20h-22h)

What’s classy if you’re rich but trashy if you’re poor?
This is one possible translation of the title into meme-fied language.

Ugly Things_Unlearning Beauty walks the fine line that distinguishes the affinity for cheap trash from expensive taste, while simultaneously undermining that very dichotomy. We closely examine the authority that decides who and what has a place in the museum and is thus deemed valuable enough to gain entrance, visibility and longevity.

Queer is a term that is still frequently used to devalue someone or something, to label them as deviant, perverse or disgusting – perhaps even ugly. In a similar way, some people use the expression “ugly thing” to objectify and dehumanize — when applied to a person. This exhibition draws parallels between the two labels and interrogates the motives and mechanisms behind such denominations — with the goal of exposing and dismantling them.

A joyful reminder: punch up, don’t kick down!

Curated by Thomas Trabitsch

Artists:

Ju Aichinger

Rawan Almukhtar

Tatsiana Karpachova

Mai Ling

Kenneth Constance Loe

Michèle Pagel

Daniel Rajcsanyi

João Pedro Vale & Nuno Alexandre Ferreira

Chris E. Vargas

Free entry

Many thanks to the supporters of this exhibition:

All our private donors

and especially to