Hofgarten Cruise: COMMUNITY

Performative reading and exchange on queer history and politics with Marcus Peter Tesch (text) and Fabian Schulz (sound). A three-part, immersive performance happening by Thomas Bartling deals with safety and visibility in protective and dirty spaces. For this, the Cologne-based artist has chosen Düsseldorf's Hofgarten. "In times of increasing repression and violence against queer people, making queer cultural techniques visible and passing them on is a building block for consolidating democratic coexistence," says Thomas Bartling, who combines pop culture, campness, and queer aesthetics with performative formats in his works. Cruising is one of these cultural techniques. Because men have always met here hidden in public spaces to have anonymous sex. Düsseldorf's Hofgarten is also considered a traditional cruising hotspot. "Hofgarten Cruise" is therefore the title of Thomas Bartling's new project. It's about "safety and visibility in protective and dirty spaces," according to the subtitle. With a three-part, immersive performance happening, he wants to make "queer cultural techniques like cruising experienceable as a utopian counter-design to normative social structures." With the three parts "Discourse," "Creation," and "Community," Bartling creates a participatory art space that dissolves the boundaries between artists and audience.