More queerness is coming to Nicosia this month as the Goethe-Institut Cyprus presents Queer As German Folk – an exhibition created in 2019 by the Goethe-Institut New York and the Schwules Museum Berlin on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York. The exhibition highlights moments of the queer movement’s history in the USA and Germany without claiming to tell the only possible story.
The Queer As German Folk exhibition will be shown at the event hall of the Goethe-Institut in Nicosia from Thursday until October 26, featuring a parallel programme with screenings and a guided tour (at Goethe-Institut Cyprus) as well as a discussion (at NiMAC) with the co-curator of the exhibition, Dr Birgit Bosold from the Schwules Museum.
An excerpt of Queer As German Folk is presented as part of the exhibition ‘nono, bad timing!’, which is funded by the Franco-German Cultural Fund and organised by Queer Wave, Goethe-Institut Cyprus, Institut Français de Chypre in collaboration with NiMAC.
As a joint project of the Goethe-Institut, Schwules Museum Berlin and the Federal Agency for Civic Education, this exhibition took the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots as an opportunity to offer an insight into the history of queer movements in the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, and reunited Germany since the 1960s. Particular emphasis is placed on the manifold relations with US movements.
Through selected films, the exhibition tries to offer a deeper insight into some of the contents of the exhibition. The screenings start on October 8 with the film Kokon where teenage Nora experiences a summer of change. The screenings continue the following night with Coming Out, which is hailed as the first and only feature film about gay life ever produced in communist East Germany and it premiered on the night of the fall of Berlin Wall. The screenings conclude on October 10 with Genderation, looking at the transgender movement in San Francisco and what has changed in the last 20 years, since the film Gendernauts (1999). On October 18 a guided tour through the exhibition will take place at the Goethe-Institut led by Dr Birgit Bosold, co-curator of the exhibition.
The programme concludes with a presentation by and discussion with Bosold about the history of the Schwules Museum Berlin, their strategy, work and challenges, which will take place at NiMAC on October 19 at 11am, an event part of ‘nono, bad timing!’
Queer as German Folk
Exhibition on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York. September 19 – October 16. Goethe-Institut Cyprus, Nicosia. Tuesday-Friday: 4pm-7pm and Saturday: 11am-2pm. Tel: 22-674606
