URBAN TALKS

October 13 2022, 7.00 pm (CET) | Haus der Statistik, Raum KARLA, Otto-Braun-Straße 70-72, 10178 Berlin

Pandemic sex: Queer Spaces and Future Intimacies

In this workshop we invite participants to reflect on the ways COVID-related measures have impacted on queer practices of intimacy in different spaces.

For extended periods during the pandemic, restrictions effectively confined intimacy to the nuclear household. At the same time, the closure of venues such as bars, clubs, and saunas led many people to seek out alternative spaces in which to gather, socialise and have sex. These included online spaces, in-person private parties as well as outdoor gatherings in public space.

In a city where sex-positive infrastructures are unevenly distributed, these trends have generated a series of questions and tensions around contemporary sexual citizenship and space that we explore in this workshop.

We are delighted to welcome the following guest discussants: Sophia Abidi, PhD Candidate, Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris; Fazila Bhimji, PhD, Independent Scholar, Berlin; Dr. Jamie Hakim, King’s College London; Mati Klitgård, Facilitator and Academic; Ben Miller, Writer and Historian; Ursula Probst, Research Associate, Freie Univeristät Berlin; Danilo Rosato, Organiser WHOLE Festival & Buttons; Max Schnepf, Research Associate, Freie Univeristät Berlin.

The workshop is co-organised by Dr. Mike Upton and Prof. Dr. Anna Steigemann with support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in the context of the two researchers’ CONNECT and UK-German Frontiers of Humanities collaborations. The event is also linked to the Transforming Solidarities (BUA) and Safe(r) City, Safe(r) Housing ResearchTeaching Projects at Habitat Unit.

© Photo: Johan Andersson

Download poster here.