Queer Horizons: Time, Place, Light and Space

Dylan Wilde

Initially an exploration of the the space between the gallery and queer club culture now shifts to a strictly digital experience as a global pandemic restricts us from physical human connection. What would have been four walls, paintings and projections (accompanied by audio) are now collapsed into a two dimensional space on the screen you currently occupy. Additionally, the paintings described above and below now take the form of video, their boundaries and orientation are marked by the interior of the window frame inserted into the footage. Drawing inspiration from the Light and Space movement of California’s past, four paintings become washed in light as projectors loop shifting scenes of sky, eluding to a sunset or sunrise, the night always coming or going, but never present. Muted club music eludes to possibilities just beyond the horizon or something yet to be revealed, a queer future outside of night life. Queer club events often occupy bars or clubs, presenting challenges for the creation of safe spaces, a crucial need for marginalized, at risk members of the queer and trans community. When truly safe, the club scene becomes an evening of liberation, a place and time where the way bodies sound, move, and look are totally fluid and free to explore their place in the world. While these events only take place over the course of an evening (in closed spaces, no less), this work instead imagines queer futurism as boundless exploration not limited by space, time, and history. The paintings within the window frame encapsulate an image of queerness outside the darkness of night, all the while projections of light imply that the world continues to turn, highlighting the need to continue on in search of bright futures. This show takes on new meanings as we are now denied the experience of human connection, instead turning towards a digital platform in which we are completely removed from sharing art and music in a physical space. Echoing the viewers experience of being confined to domestic spaces, we stand (or sit) at the window watching the sky outside shift and loop as we long to be reunited, stuck where we are for the foreseeable future.