What’s Missing? Traces of Queerness in Syrian Art History (11.06.)

This lecture explores queer and queer-adjacent expressions in literature, poetry, mysticism, and visual culture from historical Syria and the broader Levant. Moving beyond modern identity labels, it traces how desire, intimacy, gender fluidity, and embodied longing appeared in classical Arabic poetry, Sufi writings, court literature, and urban social spaces such as bathhouses and performance traditions. Through selected examples, the lecture asks how queerness can be read historically, how desire was articulated before contemporary categories, and how these cultural lineages challenge dominant narratives that frame queerness as foreign to the region. The talk weaves together art, history, and embodiment to open space for alternative readings of tradition, memory, and belonging.

What’s Missing? Traces of Queerness in Syrian Art History

Thursday, 11th of June at 18:30

This lecture explores queer and queer-adjacent expressions in literature, poetry, mysticism, and visual culture from historical Syria and the broader Levant. Moving beyond modern identity labels, it traces how desire, intimacy, gender fluidity, and embodied longing appeared in classical Arabic poetry, Sufi writings, court literature, and urban social spaces such as bathhouses and performance traditions. Through selected examples, the lecture asks how queerness can be read historically, how desire was articulated before contemporary categories, and how these cultural lineages challenge dominant narratives that frame queerness as foreign to the region. The talk weaves together art, history, and embodiment to open space for alternative readings of tradition, memory, and belonging.

🖼️ Lecture

📅 When? 11.06. at 18:30

💬 Language: English

📍 Where? QUEER MUSEUM VIENNA | Baumgartner Höhe 1, 1140 Vienna

📩 no registration required

💶 free admission, donations are welcome

This event is supported by: