The month of May is traditionally the time when the Queer Zagreb Season takes place, and this year’s edition—the 24th—brings the richest program to date. Over the course of nearly the entire month, from May 2 to May 30, 30 artists from ten European countries, as well as Argentina, Egypt, and the United States, will present their work.
The program includes theatre and dance performances, exhibitions, lectures, panel discussions, fireside chats, and film screenings across various city venues—the Zagreb Dance Center, Gavella Drama Theatre, KNAP, the Zagreb City Museum, and KIC. This year’s edition is particularly marked by its thematic focus on trans artistic voices and identities within artistic communities.
“The trans community is one of the most stigmatized communities worldwide, continuously facing violence as well as numerous forms of social, political, and economic pressure aimed at rendering it invisible. For this reason, it is important for us to place at the center of Queer Zagreb’s artistic focus those artists whose voices do not regularly reach a wider public. The experiences of the trans community and trans artists, as well as programmatic statements like this one, help expand a space for dialogue in which the complexity, resilience, and creative strength of the trans community can be highlighted—without filters,” said Zvonimir Dobrović, Artistic Director of Queer Zagreb.
A radical treat at KIC opens the Season
The very beginning of the Season brings a radical highlight. On Saturday, May 2, at noon, at the Cultural Information Centre (KIC), a lecture will be delivered by Paul B. Preciado—writer, curator, filmmaker, and one of the leading thinkers in the field of gender and sexual politics.
His books, including Countersexual Manifesto, Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics, and Pornotopia, are key reference points in contemporary queer, trans, and non-binary countercultures. His lecture in Zagreb, titled “43,000 Million Sexes,” addresses contemporary technofascism and its impact on trans and non-binary bodies. A moderated discussion will follow.
On the same day and in the same venue, at 8:00 PM, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens will take the stage. Croatian audiences have previously encountered Annie Sprinkle’s work, but her collaboration with Beth Stephens—particularly the film Playing With Fire, which will be screened—combines humor, sensuality, art, and care for the community. After the screening and discussion, the duo will present a performance that has long provoked, inspired, and opened questions about the relationship between the body, nature, and society. Given Beth Stephens’ contributions to contemporary ecological and queer art, and Annie Sprinkle’s work in developing post-pornographic art and contemporary discussions on sexuality in art and society, the Zagreb audience can expect a compelling evening.
Conflict as an element of democracy
The Queer Zagreb Season program continues on May 9 at the Bogdan Ogrizović Library with a lecture by Darko Lukić titled “Art in a Hostile Environment – Between Hegemony, Performativity, and the Micropolitics of Resistance.” In it, the author addresses the position of artistic and socially engaged practices within contemporary political and cultural contexts marked by growing ideological pressures and processes of democratic erosion. Particular emphasis is placed on the independent scene, which through participatory and politically engaged artistic practices opens up space for conflict as a constitutive element of democracy.
Among additional programs, a standout is the collaboration with KNAP Queer Peščenica, within which three recent Croatian co-productions will be presented: Babin kuk gori by Gonzalo Quintana, Ministranti by Zlatko Paković, and Only Under by Bruno Isaković and Ana Mrak.
In addition to those already mentioned, participating artists in the 24th Queer Zagreb Season include Gabrijel Lazić (Croatia/Slovenia), Rajna Racz (Croatia), Køteren og Terrieren (Norway), Maiamar Abrodos (Argentina), Natalia Villamil (Argentina), Hazem Header (Egypt), Fernando Troya (Spain/Netherlands), and RAM Botero (Philippines). The program also includes the exhibitions Trans Balkan by Aleksandar Crnogorac (Serbia) and Archivo de la Memoria Trans, the first archive of its kind in the world—both of which will be presented at the Zagreb City Museum.
