QUEER SANCTUARIES IN A DAMAGED WORLD
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QUEER SANCTUARIES IN A DAMAGED WORLD •
Presenting at the Conference of Irish Geographers, Belfast 2025
Building on further workshop research, Karen, Gerry and Fearghus presented a paper on Queer Ecologies and the Sanctuary of Performance at this year’s Conference of Irish Geographers for a panel on Creative Methodologies.
The Abstract: Addressing the planetary crisis requires profound social and economic shifts. Queer ecologies may contribute to no-growth ideologies. Performance based on these ideas may also offer a refuge from a culture and economy accepting of ecocide as a by-product of endless expansion sustained by heteropatriarchal and capitalist drives. This paper reports on dance workshops and performances that explore queer ways of being in a more than human world. In what ways and with what limitations can performance and audience collaborate in making a safe place for anticipating a future where no-growth values and queer solidarities could support each other? Placemaking as a form of research is a fragile and risk endeavour and learning from performance culture is challenging.
Presenting at Royal Geographical Society Conference 2024
After initial workshop research with Irish dance artists Rita Marcalo, Ben Sullivan and Philip Connaughton, Gerry and Fearghus presented a paper composed with Karen and Isabella on Queer Sanctuaries in Dance as part of a panel called What is Queer/Ecological about Queer Ecologies Now? at the RGS annual conference in London in August.
Abstract: In exploring anti-essentialist and more-than-human responses to the crisis in our web of life, Queer Sanctuaries is an intervention in the dance cultures of Ireland and Britain. There are forms of learning that may be ventured and developed through dance practice. The theoretical inspiration of Queer Ecologies has been central in the development of this practice. In this paper, we will reflect on what in turn dance practice might contribute towards the broader political mission of Queer Ecologies. The research practice is collaborative between dancers, academics, and dancer-academics. With workshops and interviews the project draws from the body-learning in dance and the creative imagination it feeds. The project also draws upon interviews with artists to explore the implicit queer ecologies of a range of dance, performance and theatre artists sharing many of the core concerns of a Queer Sanctuary, a place in which to care for each other, from which to reflect, gather strength, and then re-engage.
Call out for Queer Dance Artists to attend a Research Workshop on 3 May 2024
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Photographer Nigel Enright for Tearmann Aiteach/ Queer Sanctuary by Isabella Oberländer and Fearghus Ó Conchúir
We’re looking for queer dance artists to take part in a dance a dance workshop and discussion with artists Fearghus Ó Conchúir and Isabella Oberländer and with Professors Karen Till and Gerry Kearns. The aim of the project is to share more widely the knowledge that dance artists have in building sustainable queer ecologies and sanctuaries for queerness.
To express an interest email gerry.kearns@mu.ie.
Background:
Gerry and Karen are professors of Geography at Maynooth University with a long history of supporting artist activism and using academic expertise to support marginalised communities to express their knowledge. Fearghus has been dancing with fellow queer artist Isabella Oberländer to explore what Queer Sanctuary could be. That exploration has included joyful dancing as well as practising the conditions of care for human and non- human flourishing.
What is it?:
The invitation is to a series of a dance workshop that shares the practice that Fearghus and Isabella have been evolving. The dancing is intended to be fun, supported and as energetic as you feel like. It looking for different arrangements and rhythms for our bodies as alternatives to the heteropatriarchal, competitive and exploitative relationships our bodies are often put in. Following the workshop, we’ll have a discussion with Karen and Gerry about what the practice means to us. You can share as much or as little as you feel comfortable in these discussions. We’ll share and discuss consent forms to make sure you’re comfortable about your participation in the research.
Practical details:
The workshops will take place on 11:00 - 16:00 3 May at Project Arts Centre. We plan some introductions, 90 mins of physical practice, a lunch break and 90 mins of conversation and a wrap up.
We’ll can offer you €200 to those selected to attend.
We welcome artists of all backgrounds, in particular artists who identify as LGBTQ+, are part of the global majority and/or disabled/have a disability.
Next Steps:
If you are interested please contact Gerry Kearns, gerry.kearns@mu.ie. And if you have access requirements, please let us know at the same address.
We’ll select applicants at random from people who express an interest. This isn’t an audition. It isn’t an assessment. It’s an opportunity to share practice and perspectives that can inform the research project
