David J. Getsy Boeken

Key artists' writings that have influenced and catalyzed contemporary queer artistic practice. Historically, “queer” was a slur used against those perceived as abnormal. Beginning in the 1980s, it was reappropriated and embraced as a badge of honor. While queer draws its politics and affective force from the history of non-normative, gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities, it transcends these categories and identities. It offers a strategic challenge to the stability of identity and the power dynamics tied to categorization. Contemporary artists identifying their practices as queer envision utopian and dystopian alternatives, adopt outlaw stances, embrace criminality and opacity, and forge new kinships and communities. This anthology centers on artists' writings, bringing together diverse conversations about queer practice from various social and cultural contexts. The texts describe how artists have utilized the concept of queer for political critique, to develop new families and histories, to spur action, and to assert inassimilable difference.