Launch of a book on queer art in Czech Republic, edited by Ladislav Jackson from Faculty of Fine Arts

Images of a Different Desire: Queer Art and Visuality in the Czech Lands, edited by Ladislav Jackson, will take place at Rezidence Café Kaprál. The book is published by VUTIUM Publishing. It will be available for purchase on-site at a discounted price. Cash payment only.

The publication is based on the premise that structural inequalities and discrimination against non-heterosexual people have existed and were even more prevalent in the past. Their life experiences—having to cope with rejection by their natural social environment, systems, politics, state, and its institutions—are a significant and indeed irreplaceable source of cultural production.

The book’s chapters, divided into four sections, interpret objects, texts, images, and designs that can be read as queer. The temporality of such readings comes to the fore, along with the need to reconsider the canonical qualitative standards of high culture.

The authors also explore the extent to which personal life (both social and sexual) can be linked to artistic and literary creation, whether queer life experience is an advantage or a disadvantage for professional success. They examine why, on one hand, it is an integral part of reading and interpreting the work of non-heterosexual people, yet there is no causal relationship between their work and life circumstances.

The book launch is part of the accompanying program of the Brno Book Open festival, which will also take place on December 4, 2024, at KUMST and Rezidence Café Kaprál.

Source: Faculty of Fine Arts, BUT