Queer-in-Progress. Timeline: Online Archive

Launch Event : Wednesday 31st March, 7PM

Project Arts Centre is delighted to announce the official launch of the QUEER-IN-PROGRESS. TIMELINE: ONLINE ARCHIVE. On Wednesday 31st March 2021 we’ll be teaming up with GCN Magazine to bring you an exciting launch event. During the event, we’ll be highlighting some of the features of the timeline as well as introducing our open call, inviting you to write your own history into the timeline. Guests on the night will include writer, actor and activist Noelle Brown; film editor and director Cara Holmes; GCN’s own Lisa Connell; plus more to be announced. The event will be broadcast live on GCN’s Facebook and YouTube from 7.00 pm GMT. Throughout the day, we will also be posting some of the highlights across our social media platform

The QUEER-IN-PROGRESS. TIMELINE: ONLINE ARCHIVE aims to map and explore expanded Irish LGBTQ histories. Initiated by Lívia Páldi, former Curator of Visual Arts at Project Arts Centre, QUEER-IN-PROGRESS. TIMELINE was first introduced in March 2020 as the second chapter in the ACTIVE ARCHIVE - SLOW INSTITUTION (2017 - 2020); an extensive research initiative aimed at delving into Project Art Centre’s 50+ year history. The initiative began by picking up on research into the history of the LGBT theatre of Project Arts Centre conducted by artist/researcher Hannah Tiernan (MFA, NCAD). For the QUEER-IN-PROGRESS. TIMELINE, she went on to collate material from GCN (Gay Community News) and IQA (Irish Queer Archives), focusing on lesbian, feminist, female-identified, bi, trans and HIV/AIDS histories of the 80s and 90s.

The QUEER-IN-PROGRESS. TIMELINE display launched in Project Art Centre’s gallery on 6th March 2020. Alongside the research, the display hosted one of the Irish Names Quilts and an accompanying video of the Names Project founder Mary Shannon discussing some of the quilts. The display also featured several documentary and artistic videos by Caroline Campbell, Linda Cullen, Cara Holmes and Sonya Mulligan, as well as audio recordings from the Dublin Lesbian Line 40th Anniversary event.

The display was intended to prompt people to bring their own stories and histories to the timeline, creating a dialogue around the need/desire to document and archive our histories. Questioning who authors these narratives and exploring why some become dominant while others are relegated to folklore. 

With the QUEER-IN-PROGRESS. TIMELINE: ONLINE ARCHIVE, we seek to continue this conversation. The entries on the timeline are intended to act as prompts, highlighting events, signposting organisations and pinpointing interventions in Irish lesbian, feminist, female-identified, trans, bi, and HIV/AIDS histories. We invite you to explore and challenge these narratives and contribute your own telling. 

GET IN TOUCH
If you wish to contribute material such as zines, newspaper clips, objects, memorabilia, moving image, and photographic documents and/or artworks, please contact Hannah Tiernan at hannah@projectartscentre.ie. Please be aware, copyright restriction may prohibit the use of certain material.