Symposium — On Queer, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and Global Trans Insurgencies*
04 June 19:00 CSP Jadro
This symposium explores the intersections of queer and LGBT histories in the Balkans, Slovenia, and Eastern Europe, with broader connections to global trans* insurgencies. It brings together queer theory, political critique, and trans resistance to examine how lesbians, gays, queers, punks, and trans communities have historically—and continue to—confront state power and societal norms.
Central themes include poetry, film, photography, radical expression, the body and identity, and the relationship between LGBT, queer, and trans movements and activism. The symposium also engages with decolonial and anti-racist struggles, questioning how these histories are erased or overlooked in dominant narratives. The aim is to reconstruct and amplify alternative histories while envisioning future queer and trans* uprisings within leftist political movements.
Marina Gržinić
Spaces, Strategies, Visions
The history of LGBTQ+ communities in Slovenia—deeply linked to punk, alternative, and subcultural scenes in Ljubljana—radically transformed society, challenging dominant narratives around history, sexuality, and civil rights. These movements laid the groundwork for fundamental human rights, pluralism in civil society, and equality.
Marina Gržinić is a philosopher, theorist, and artist based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Since 1993, she has worked at the Institute of Philosophy at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU). Since 2003, she has also served as a Full Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Since 1982, she has collaborated with Aina Šmid, an art historian and artist, on experimental and political video art.
Tjaša Kancler
Trans Insurgencies*
This talk rethinks trans* politics and insurgencies in the context of global techno-racial capitalism, fascism, war, and genocide. It highlights interwoven histories of race, class, gender, sexuality, and biopolitical/necropolitical regulation in Eastern Europe while focusing on the revolutionary potential of erotic, decolonial turns.
Tjaša Kancler is an activist, artist, and researcher. They are a Serra Húnter Professor at the Department of Visual Arts and Design, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Barcelona. Kancler co-founded t.i.c.t.a.c. – Taller de Intervenciones Críticas Transfeministas Antirracistas Combativas and co-edits the journal Desde el margen.
Janusz Czech
Exhibitionism and (Gender) Controversies
In this lecture, Janusz Czech discusses his curatorial work at A.K.T. through the lens of gender debates and controversies surrounding exhibitions. He reflects on why the exhibition PUNK.SUBKULTUR.SOZIALISM. Archives of the Future. Photography from Slovenia resonates beyond national borders, particularly in Germany.
Janusz Czech is a curator and visual artist whose practice is defined by interdisciplinary and transcultural projects. His work uses art as a transformative and communicative platform, addressing issues of equality, self-determination, gender roles, and contemporary social discourse.
Vesna Liponik
Queer, Ecology, Poetry
Drawing from her poetic practice, Vesna Liponik examines the intersections of queerness, ecology, and poetry. Through metaphors of escaped sows, apples, and apple-pickers—queer figures in their own right—she explores how poetry becomes a dangerous, radical mode of thinking and expression.
Vesna Liponik is a poet, activist, and researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana. She is a doctoral candidate at the Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU under the supervision of Marina Gržinić Mauhler. She has published two poetry collections: roko razje (eats away the hand, 2019) and Jabk (Apples, 2023), both with ŠKUC Publishing.
Dialogue: DK and Marina Gržinić
Photography, Punk, and Subculture
This dialogue explores the role of photography in documenting and shaping punk and subcultural movements in the Balkans and beyond.
DK, born in 1970, studied at FPS Munich and completed postgraduate studies at IVAS Cologne. He has lived and worked in Ljubljana, Amsterdam, Belgrade, and Vienna for over 30 years. A member of the multimedia collective Strip Core since 1986, DK’s primary medium is photography, though his work spans hybrid projects that engage with broader contemporary art practices.
The exhibition was realized in cooperation with ZRC SAZU and supported by Cankarjev dom, Ministrstvo za kulturo RS, Muzej novejše in sodobne zgodovine Slovenije, Moderna Galerija, Luminus, and A.K.T; Pforzheim. In North Macedonia the exhibition was realized by Coalition MARGINS, in the frame of the Skopje Pride Weekend – Festival for Queer Art, Culture and Theory 2025. Partners for the exhibition in North Macedonia are the Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje and the LGBTI Support Center. The exhibition in Skopje received additional support from ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana, Slovenia, and its Director, Dr. Oto Luthar, as well as from A.K.T; Pforzheim, Germany, and its artistic director Janusz Czech; and Heincrich Böll Stiftung. This is the fifth edition of the exhibition Slovenian Punk & Photography, which originally premiered at Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana (5.12.2023–11.2.2024). The second edition was presented internationally at A.K.T; in Pforzheim, Germany (27.4.2024–26.5.2024). The third edition was held in August/September 2024 at PAVELHAUS | PAVLOVA HIŠA, Laafeld/Potrna 30, A-8490 Bad Radkersburg (Austria). The fourth edition took place in November 2024 at SKCNS, Studentski Kulturni Centar Novi Sad (Serbia). In Skopje, the exhibition provides insight into the crucial role of photography in documenting and serving as a vehicle for the expression of the Slovenian punk movement and other subcultural events from 1977 to the mid-1980s, as well as the periods before and after punk.