The Queer Biennial Collective is about to drop the second installment of its international arts and performance event in Los Angeles: “Queer Biennial II, Yooth: Loss and Found.” The program will look closely at how the AIDS epidemic influenced artists that came of age during the 1980s and 1990s, and will explore how a new generation of artists react to this lineage within queer history.
Queer artists at work during that tumultuous period grappled with this deathly zeitgeist and perhaps cast a dark shadow on a younger generation of queer artists. Some of today’s artists reflect on that arc of LGBT history, while others point in new directions that include socio-political issues, gender identity, conceptualism, history/herstory, candy-coated escapism, and of course, love, sex, and death. “Queer Biennial II,” will revel in the celebration of youth through what this multi-generational queer assembly collectively has to say.
Queer Biennial is an international survey focusing on current moments in out, queer, and LGBTQ art and culture and will showcase emerging, mid-career, and established artists. Featured work includes installation, film, live performance, and historical documentation.
“Queer Biennial II: Loss and Found” is presented by Ruben Esparza as lead curator with an extended group of installation, performance, film curators, publishers and documentarians that include: Mark Cramer, Jon Vaz Gar, Brian Getnick, Jeremy Lucido, Tanya Rubbak, Marc Streit, Stuart Sandford, and Amy Von Harrington.
The exhibition runs June 4 – 26, at the Industry Gallery, 801 E. 7th Street, #103, Los Angeles. An opening reception takes place from 6 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, June 4. The exhibition, performance, and film space is open Thursday through Saturday, 1—5 p.m., and by appointment.