QUEER

To be true to yourself, to be real, despite the stereotypes, becomes a rare skill. Queer Fest opens up a space for the artists and the audience, inviting everybody to think about who we are and why it is difficult for us to be ourselves.

We stand for the freedom of expression, diversity of gender and gender self-awareness. These values are the basis of the concept of the festival and our slogan: the art of being yourself.

The main aim of the festival is to support the right of every person to be him(her)self irrespective of sexual orientation and gender identity.

WHAT DOES QUEER MEANS?

In Russian language the word “queer” means “strange” or “extraordinary”.

Today this concept can be interpreted as “the existence beyond gender stereotypes” in the broadest sense. So, the concept of “queer” relates to LGBT people as well as to any other people, who wants to escape from the rigid framework of stereotypes and become who they really are.

Queer means anti-stigma and the absence of labels.

Regardless of biological sex, people in our world have an opportunity to be parents, to choose any profession they want, to make music and art, politics or civil activism.

However, in modern Russia the frame of the concept of the “norm” becomes stricter, and it means that it becomes more difficult to be yourself. One way or another we all face the stereotypes and the fact that we don’t fit the expectations of our families, friends or colleagues. Each of us has his/her own way and finds the personal identity differently.

Queer is a space where each person decides who he or she wants to be and what he or she wants to do.

QUEER CULTURE

Queer issues are the inalienable parts of the artistic process in the West, but like most of acute problems of Russian reality it’s still invisible for our museums and galleries. This year we wonder why does it happen? What can change the situation? How should look a culture where will be a place for every social group?

How to define a belonging of one project or another, of an artist, of a phenomenon to a queer culture? What do we mark as a queer culture and what do we base on?

This year on Queer Fest we will speak with the artists and curators of famous and successfully exhibited queer projects about what do we define as queer art, queer projects.

Come to the Queer Fest and plunge into the world without stigma and labels.