‘Cruising’ describes the quest for sex by homosexual men in public spaces. It is an urban pursuit taking place in parks, public toilets and car parks, as well as in dedicated establishments such as sex clubs and bathhouses. But cruising cannot be reduced to neither men nor gays, nor to any definite location. The historical model of cruising is evolving.
Presenting the many facets of cruising culture through the work of international architects, designers and artists, Cruising Pavilion explores a sexual and spatial practice that spans historical and contemporary culture. The combination of digital hook-up apps, urban development, and the commodification of LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual and Queer +) cultures means that traditional cruising grounds are continually adapting. Geospatial technologies have generated a psychosexual geography that spreads across digitally-connected homes and profiles.
The exhibition presents cruising as the producer of a non-hetero architecture that closely mirrors the patriarchal nature of the built environment. Cruising is at once revealed as a resistance, an avant-garde and a vernacular, with an active relevance in and beyond LGBTQ+ circles.
Cruising Pavilion at ArkDes is the culmination of two years of research. Previous exhibitions of the project in Venice, Italy (Spazio Punch), and New York City, USA (Ludlow38), have explored the different directions by which cruising practices have evolved. In this third and final edition, Cruising Pavilion focuses on the intersection of sexuality and the architecture of the city.
The exhibition contains explicit works depicting sex and is not recommended for people under the age of 15.
Participants
Andreas Angelidakis
Monica Bonvicini
Tom Burr
Shu Lea Cheang
Victoria Colmegna
Earl Combs + Steve Ostrow
Etienne Descloux
Diller Scofidio + Renfro
DYKE_ON
Pol Esteve + Marc Navarro
General Idea
Robert Getso
Horace Gifford
Sidsel Meineche Hansen
Nguyen Tan Hoang
Andrés Jaque (Office for Political Innovation)
Studio Karhard
Ann Krsul + Amy Cappellazzo + Alexis Roworth + Sarah Drake
John Lindell
Henrik Olesen
Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki Olivo)
Hannah Quinlan + Rosie Hastings
Carlos Reyes
Prem Sahib
Jaanus Samma
S H U I (Jon Wang + Sean Roland)
Max Sohl + Paul Morris
Charles Terrell + Bruce Mailman
Tommy Ting
Madelon Vriesendorp
Steven Warwick
Robert Yang
Trevor Yeung
