Queer Reading Group Sydney: Remembering THE PARTY
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When
- Where
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Address
CNR OXFORD ST & GREENS RD, PADDINGTON NSW 2021
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Hours
6–7PM
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Phone
0423372064
How do we remember queer party scenes, whether they happened 30 years ago or they’re happening right now? What part does nostalgia play in the stories we tell about these scenes? What are the consequences of forgetting?
In the final of three sessions of Queer Reading Group Sydney taking place during World Pride as part of UNSW Galleries’ exhibition THE PARTY, we’re reading texts about memory and change, that look back at what was, what is, and what could have been of Sydney’s queer party scenes.
TEXTS:
- Fiona McGregor’s ‘Looking for Lanny K’, from Buried Not Dead (2021) is a reflection on the DJs of Sydney’s queer dance party scenes as the author reconnects with the pasts of herself and the friends who inhabited those spaces.
- Kerryn Drysdale’s ‘Scene Stories’, from Intimate Investments in Drag King Cultures (2019) examines more recent events, the dissolution of Sydney’s drag king scene, providing a lens to look at how we remember these scenes in their immediate aftermath.
- OPTIONAL — Kane Race’s ‘The Death of the Dance Party’ (2003) analyses the decline of gay dance parties, and the role of drug use and imagined HIV futures in changing the meanings of those parties.
Whether you’re nostalgic for the parties you used to go to or for the idea of parties you never did, join us for a discussion of how we remember queer parties.
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Hosted by journalist Benjamin Riley, Queer Reading Group Sydney meets monthly to offer a place for conversations on queer writing. Together the group discusses short-form texts from radical pamphlets and zines to articles and essays.
For three months across World Pride, Queer Reading Group Sydney has partnered with UNSW Galleries to present a series of reading groups exploring the significance of nightlife and party culture in queer communities.
Presented in conjunction with the landmark exhibition ‘THE PARTY’ at UNSW Galleries until 23 April 2023.