On the 13. of November, our final online discussion in the #Vorzeichen series will be a live broadcast from the Goethe-Institut in London.

Our guests will be the Munich Drag Queen Vicky Voyage, archive activist Wassan Ali from Spinnboden Lesbenarchiv in Berlin, and bookseller Gabriela Salas Vidal from the intersectional bookshop Common Press in London. The evening starts with a Drag Story Hour by Vicky Voyage, a performance for children aged +4, families and adults. After the show, the panel will discuss theoretical and practical ways of transforming archives and library materials into more inclusive spaces for Black Queers and Queers of Colour.

The event will be co-moderated by Maja Klimt (Goethe-Institut London) and Dr Maha El Hissy, the curator of the series. Both the performance and the conversation will be held in English and participation is free of charge.

If you are in London, you can attend the event live at the Goethe-Institut. 
 

Abstract

#Vorzeichen was initiated to shed light on reading as a means for revealing and dismantling power structures. The last speakers’ intervention focuses on the intersection of queer and racialised identities and highlights the invisible histories and powerful narratives that can emerge when reading spaces critically question and go beyond heteronormative thinking.

After a Drag Story Hour by Vicky Voyage, the event will cover questions on theory and practice: How can libraries transform their spaces, reading lists and library material to be more inclusive for Black Queers and Queers of Colour? And how can libraries create safer places and events at a time when the LGBTQ+-community is increasingly facing attacks from the far right and library staff is harassed for displaying books on sex education and the LGBTQ+-community?
 

Bio

 

Vicky Voyage takes you on a varied jaunt into the world of drag art. As an international performer, moderator and entertainer, she presents well thought-out and clever concepts with extravagant outfits and strong make-up with charisma and wit. She serves a wide variety of eye candy, amongst others as a brilliant fire fairy, as a dazzling butterfly, as a legendary snow queen or also as a loving local matador in a dirndl on the way. With pole dancing, a touch of acrobatics or just with her full presence, she invites the audience to marvel.

Wassan Ali is an author and archive activist. At the 'Spinnboden Lesbian Archive and Library' she organises workshops focusing on intersectional histories in the archive and their influence on the present, such as the publishing of the Zines Writing the Archive. Wassan is part of the research project Queer Theory in Transit at the Humboldt University in Berlin. She also contributed to the essay collection Nicht die Ersten: Bewegungsgeschichten von Queers of Color in Deutschland (2024), in which she writes about archiving from an intersectional perspective.

Gabriela Salas Vidal was born and raised in Lima, Peru, and has been creating (chaos) since. Passionate about history, social causes, art as a catalyst for change, and the power of communal creation, Gabi is now a bookseller, curator, collaborator and community member at The Common Press, an intersectional queer bookshop in East London. There, they program events, stock their shelves, serve a pretty good cup of coffee, and are always willing to hear a lost queer out.  

 

Moderation

Dr Maha El Hissy is an independent literary scholar and critic. In 2024, El Hissy is curating the event series #Vorzeichen [Accidental Portents] for the Goethe-Institut in Northwestern Europe. She is editor of a forthcoming anthology on the art and literature of immigration to post-war Germany with Verbrecher Verlag.

Maja Klimt has taken on the role of head of Communication and Library at the Goethe-Institut in London since August 2024. Her studies in Art History, Business Administration, and Cultural Policy took her to Berlin and London. With a diverse background in photography, cultural marketing, and restitution, she has participated in various cultural and exhibition projects. Most recently, she moderated a series of events for the collective WMN*, which promotes and highlights female and non-binary artists in London.
 

#Vorzeichen

The lecture is one of six talks in the series #Vorzeichen. Whom, What and How we read. In cooperation with an academic institution, the online lectures will feature speakers from various fields, such as academia, publishing and translation, who will discuss the exclusion of texts and authors through canonisation processes and market pressure.

The online events are open to anyone interested in literature and are particularly recommended for German scholars, German culture specialists, students, publishers and translators. In addition to the six online lectures at the interface between literary studies and the publishing industry, the series includes eight conversations with authors plus book reviews that will be published on Instagram over the course of the year. Detailed information about the series as well as event announcements and recordings of events that have already taken place can be found here: