Ať kvír dál zůstává s touto krajinou: queer odpor a kolaborace za socialismu

During the period of normalization (from the end of 1970 to 1989), people in Czechoslovakia were looking for strategies to survive unfreedom and totalitarian dictatorship. The majority resorted to a strategy of daily negotiation and fulfillment of the social contract, which on the one hand provided them with certain material security and, on the other hand, required them to agree to maintain one-party rule. It was even more difficult for queer people, because they could not openly live their identity or fulfill their personal lives, and because of their difference they were more easily blackmailed.

Art historian Ladislav Jackson will present his latest research on specific places of queer sociability, which were art studios. Using the examples of the architect Tomáš Fragner, the painter Karel Laštovka and the amateur musician Ladislav Takács, he will show how these places moved along the axis from complete resistance to the communist dictatorship and draconian persecution, through necessary consent and passive cooperation to agile collaboration.

The program consists of a presentation of historical research and a subsequent informal discussion.