Exhibition
Queer as German Folk

A look at the queer movement history since the late 1960s

Thu, 19.09.2024 -
Sat, 26.10.2024
Goethe-Institut Nicosia

The Goethe-Institut Cyprus presents the exhibition QUEER AS GERMAN FOLK, marking the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York.

On the night of June 27 into 28, 1969, queer people vehemently resisted a police raid on the Stonewall Inn bar. For many LGBTQIA communities around the world, the days of the uprising around Christopher Street in New York mark the beginning of the queer revolt. As a joint project of the Goethe-Institut, Schwules Museum Berlin, and the Federal Agency for Civic Education, this exhibition took the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots as an opportunity to offer an insight into the history of queer movements in the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, and reunited Germany since the 1960s. Particular emphasis is placed on the manifold relations with US movements. Under the title Queer as German Folk, in the summer of 2019, the exhibition toured the Goethe-Instituts in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and was presented at Schwules Museum Berlin; since 2020, it is traveling to other cities and countries worldwide.

The exhibition highlights moments of the queer movement’s history in Germany and the USA without claiming to tell the only possible story. Just like the debate about the legacy of the Stonewall Riots, it questions the power dynamic at work in the queer politics of memory. Perhaps above all else, this debate shows that resistance from civil society is still necessary in the 21st century and must be reinvented again and again.