Perverse Collections: Building Europe's Queer and Trans Archives
Lead Research Organisation:
University of St Andrews
Department Name: Philos Anthrop and Film Studies
Abstract
'Perverse Collections' (PERCOL) asks: how can a critical and nuanced understanding of the evolution of Europe's LGBTQ+ archives be used by scholars, queer and trans community members, and GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) sector workers to forge sustainable strategies for protecting LGBTQ+ history, and in what ways might this have transformative potential for cultural heritage politics and policy more broadly? To this end, the project will map the growth of Europe's queer and trans archives, from the 1970s to the present; it will comparatively explore the workings of these collections, including their relations to forms of state support, the understandings of LGBTQ+ history they promote locally, nationally, and internationally, and the alternative models of archiving some embody. PERCOL will identify the implications of queer and trans collections for other subaltern archives, as well as the wider cultural heritage sector, in terms of the challenges they present to dominant historical and political narratives, the complex polyphonic community politics they can reveal, and their creative handling of ephemeral experiences. Working with an array of European cultural heritage institutions, as well as a broad cross-section of invested stakeholders, the project team will draw from the history of Europe's queer and trans archives to model innovative strategies for preserving and sustaining LGBTQ+ cultural heritage. The project is situated in a live political context: as homophobic and transphobic acts of violence and discrimination rise across Europe, fomented in some countries by the prejudicial rhetoric of right-wing political groups, the project will argue for the social, cultural and political value of archiving LGBTQ+ lives and experiences, and for the wider ethical significance of supporting and maintaining a transnational ecology of subaltern collections.
Organisations
- University of St Andrews (Lead Research Organisation)
- Glasgow Women's Library (Collaboration)
- Cork LGBT Archive (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- University of Murcia, Spain (Collaboration)
- Het Nieuwe Instituut (Collaboration)
- Victoria and Albert Museum Dundee (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- Maastricht University (UM) (Collaboration)
- Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Collaboration)
- Bishopsgate Institute (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- Queer Britain (Project Partner)
- Black Queer Archive (Project Partner)
- Netherlands Inst for Sound and Vision (Project Partner)
- Hatter Society (Project Partner)
- IHLIA (Project Partner)
- Skeivt Arkiv (Weird Archive) (Project Partner)
- Valencia Institute of Modern Art (Project Partner)
- Glasgow Womens Library (Project Partner)
- Queen Sofia Museum (Project Partner)
- Schwules Museum (Project Partner)
- Armand de Fluvia Documentation Centre (Project Partner)
- Eye Filmmuseum (Project Partner)
- El punt - Espai de lliure aprenentatge (Project Partner)
- The New Institute (Project Partner)
| Title | Blooming Archive |
| Description | When the Dutch members of the 'Perverse Collections' team ran their conference 'My Evidence' in October 2024, they also curated an exhibition entitled 'Blooming Archive'. This brought together works by seven contemporary artists who responded to materials held in the IHLIA LGBTI Heritage archive. It was staged as a free, public exhibition on one floor of OBA, Amsterdam's Public Library. The exhibition was on show from 4 October to 3 November 2024. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | Two particular lines of impact are noteworthy. The exhibition's curator, Sandro Weilenmann, has strengthened working relationships with the artists involved. He was invited to write about the work of Philip Gufler, and authored an essay that has already been published ('The Beginning of Identification, and Its End', in Yasmin Afchar (ed), "Philip Gufler: Dis/Identifications", Mainz: Kunsthalle Mainz); he will also deliver a talk on Gufler's work at the SCMS conference in Chicago in April 2025. The exhibition also enhanced the collaboration between Perverse Collections and IHLIA, one of our project partners. Indeed, in December 2024, as a response to their reflections on their needs, we organised an online workshop on scanning 3D objects as a digital preservation futureproofing strategy that archives and collections may want to adopt. |
| URL | https://percol.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/files/2024/10/Blooming-Archive-Exhibition-Catalogue.pdf |
| Description | Perverse Collections: Associate Partners |
| Organisation | Bishopsgate Institute |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | 'Perverse Collections' has 17 Associate Partners based in an array of countries. We will be working with these partners on organising events across the run of the project; we will also be spending time investigating their collections, practices and policies. |
| Collaborator Contribution | A few of the partners have contributed in-kind support (use of space, small amounts of staff time, etc). Key events across the run of the project will be hosted by associate partners. Most significantly, representatives from these partners will attend as many of our events as they can across the 24 months of the project, providing talks and/or networking with other attendees. |
| Impact | So far: our launch event was held at Bishopsgate Institute (June 2023); two workshops were held on consecutive days at EYE Filmmuseum and Sound and Vision (2 & 3 November 2023); a conference was held in Dundee on 1 & 2 February 2024, with the second day being hosted by V&A Dundee. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Perverse Collections: Associate Partners |
| Organisation | Cork LGBT Archive |
| Country | Ireland |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | 'Perverse Collections' has 17 Associate Partners based in an array of countries. We will be working with these partners on organising events across the run of the project; we will also be spending time investigating their collections, practices and policies. |
| Collaborator Contribution | A few of the partners have contributed in-kind support (use of space, small amounts of staff time, etc). Key events across the run of the project will be hosted by associate partners. Most significantly, representatives from these partners will attend as many of our events as they can across the 24 months of the project, providing talks and/or networking with other attendees. |
| Impact | So far: our launch event was held at Bishopsgate Institute (June 2023); two workshops were held on consecutive days at EYE Filmmuseum and Sound and Vision (2 & 3 November 2023); a conference was held in Dundee on 1 & 2 February 2024, with the second day being hosted by V&A Dundee. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Perverse Collections: Associate Partners |
| Organisation | Glasgow Women's Library |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | 'Perverse Collections' has 17 Associate Partners based in an array of countries. We will be working with these partners on organising events across the run of the project; we will also be spending time investigating their collections, practices and policies. |
| Collaborator Contribution | A few of the partners have contributed in-kind support (use of space, small amounts of staff time, etc). Key events across the run of the project will be hosted by associate partners. Most significantly, representatives from these partners will attend as many of our events as they can across the 24 months of the project, providing talks and/or networking with other attendees. |
| Impact | So far: our launch event was held at Bishopsgate Institute (June 2023); two workshops were held on consecutive days at EYE Filmmuseum and Sound and Vision (2 & 3 November 2023); a conference was held in Dundee on 1 & 2 February 2024, with the second day being hosted by V&A Dundee. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Perverse Collections: Associate Partners |
| Organisation | Het Nieuwe Instituut |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | 'Perverse Collections' has 17 Associate Partners based in an array of countries. We will be working with these partners on organising events across the run of the project; we will also be spending time investigating their collections, practices and policies. |
| Collaborator Contribution | A few of the partners have contributed in-kind support (use of space, small amounts of staff time, etc). Key events across the run of the project will be hosted by associate partners. Most significantly, representatives from these partners will attend as many of our events as they can across the 24 months of the project, providing talks and/or networking with other attendees. |
| Impact | So far: our launch event was held at Bishopsgate Institute (June 2023); two workshops were held on consecutive days at EYE Filmmuseum and Sound and Vision (2 & 3 November 2023); a conference was held in Dundee on 1 & 2 February 2024, with the second day being hosted by V&A Dundee. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Perverse Collections: Associate Partners |
| Organisation | Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | 'Perverse Collections' has 17 Associate Partners based in an array of countries. We will be working with these partners on organising events across the run of the project; we will also be spending time investigating their collections, practices and policies. |
| Collaborator Contribution | A few of the partners have contributed in-kind support (use of space, small amounts of staff time, etc). Key events across the run of the project will be hosted by associate partners. Most significantly, representatives from these partners will attend as many of our events as they can across the 24 months of the project, providing talks and/or networking with other attendees. |
| Impact | So far: our launch event was held at Bishopsgate Institute (June 2023); two workshops were held on consecutive days at EYE Filmmuseum and Sound and Vision (2 & 3 November 2023); a conference was held in Dundee on 1 & 2 February 2024, with the second day being hosted by V&A Dundee. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Perverse Collections: Associate Partners |
| Organisation | Victoria and Albert Museum Dundee |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | 'Perverse Collections' has 17 Associate Partners based in an array of countries. We will be working with these partners on organising events across the run of the project; we will also be spending time investigating their collections, practices and policies. |
| Collaborator Contribution | A few of the partners have contributed in-kind support (use of space, small amounts of staff time, etc). Key events across the run of the project will be hosted by associate partners. Most significantly, representatives from these partners will attend as many of our events as they can across the 24 months of the project, providing talks and/or networking with other attendees. |
| Impact | So far: our launch event was held at Bishopsgate Institute (June 2023); two workshops were held on consecutive days at EYE Filmmuseum and Sound and Vision (2 & 3 November 2023); a conference was held in Dundee on 1 & 2 February 2024, with the second day being hosted by V&A Dundee. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Perverse Collections: Spanish and Dutch teams |
| Organisation | Maastricht University (UM) |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | 'Perverse Collections' is a pan-European project that involves partners in the UK, Spain, and the Netherlands. The full project was submitted to the JPICH funding call. The Spanish portion of the project is funded by the AEI; the Netherlands portion by NWO; and the UK portion by the AHRC. (I have provided the funding sums these two teams are working with under the 'partners' information). The Dutch team consists of Eliza Steinbock (PI), Sandro Weilenmann (post-doc) and Layan Nijem (student assistant). The Spanish team consists of Juan Antonio Suarez (PI) and Alberto Berzosa (postdoc). All decisions about the project are made collaboratively; we are all attending each other's events across the 24 months of the project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Each national team is organising one conference and one workshop across the run of the project. All three will also be producing publications (journal articles, edited collections, etc). The funding bid to JPICH was co-authored. |
| Impact | So far, the Dutch team have organised two connected workshops which were held on 2 & 3 November 2023. These workshops had the title 'Lively Metaphors in Preservation Practices'. Day one was held at EYE Amsterdam, day two at Sound and Vision in The Hague (both organisations are associate partners of the project). The events were attended by around 50 people - a mixture of academics, artists, and people working in the cultural heritage sector. The collaboration, like the project, is multi-disciplinary, making contributions to museum and heritage studies, queer and trans studies, art history, and film studies. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Perverse Collections: Spanish and Dutch teams |
| Organisation | University of Murcia, Spain |
| Country | Spain |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | 'Perverse Collections' is a pan-European project that involves partners in the UK, Spain, and the Netherlands. The full project was submitted to the JPICH funding call. The Spanish portion of the project is funded by the AEI; the Netherlands portion by NWO; and the UK portion by the AHRC. (I have provided the funding sums these two teams are working with under the 'partners' information). The Dutch team consists of Eliza Steinbock (PI), Sandro Weilenmann (post-doc) and Layan Nijem (student assistant). The Spanish team consists of Juan Antonio Suarez (PI) and Alberto Berzosa (postdoc). All decisions about the project are made collaboratively; we are all attending each other's events across the 24 months of the project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Each national team is organising one conference and one workshop across the run of the project. All three will also be producing publications (journal articles, edited collections, etc). The funding bid to JPICH was co-authored. |
| Impact | So far, the Dutch team have organised two connected workshops which were held on 2 & 3 November 2023. These workshops had the title 'Lively Metaphors in Preservation Practices'. Day one was held at EYE Amsterdam, day two at Sound and Vision in The Hague (both organisations are associate partners of the project). The events were attended by around 50 people - a mixture of academics, artists, and people working in the cultural heritage sector. The collaboration, like the project, is multi-disciplinary, making contributions to museum and heritage studies, queer and trans studies, art history, and film studies. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Hands Off: LGBTQ+ Cultural Heritage and Ethical Stewardship |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Across two days (1 & 2 February 2024), around 120 people attended a conference entitled 'Hands Off'. The event was staged at Dundee Contemporary Arts (day 1) and V&A Dundee (day 2). (V&A Dundee are one of the project's associate partners.) The aim of the event was to explore together the complicated topic of who is responsible for safeguarding LGBTQ+ cultural heritage for posterity. If a community hands over a collection of material to a larger institution for safekeeping, how is that relationship negotiated? The conference was built around a series of panel discussions between archivists, historians, artists and theorists. Speakers were invited from countries including France, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, and Ireland. Feedback on the event from attendees highlighted the extent to which it changed people's understandings of the field: relationships between institutions and community groups need to be collaboratively worked on; an intersectional politics must lie at the heart of all LGBTQ+ archiving. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | My Evidence: Creating LGBTQI+ Art and Archives |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | This conference was held at OBA in Amsterdam in October 2024. The two-day event brought together activists, scholars, and people working in LGBTQ+ collections to explore the relationships between artists, institutions, and archival holdings. Susan Stryker provided an opening keynote. The event was structured through a set of panel discussions focused on particular thematics. Networking was a vital aspect of the event, as it brought together many third-sector organisations who had not previously had the chance to meet. In the wake of the event, the main 'Perverse Collections' communication channels (mailing list, Instagram account) saw significantly increased traffic. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://percol.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/event/my-evidence-creating-lgbtqi-art-and-archives/ |
| Description | Project launch event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 50 people attended a launch event for the 'Perverse Collections' project in June 2023. This was held at Bishopsgate Institute in London (one of our partner organisations). The event took the form of a roundtable with three invited speakers from across Europe and Scandinavia: Julian Isenia from the Black Queer Archives in the Netherlands; Tone Hellesund from the Skeivt Arkiv in Norway; and Elahe Haschemi Yekani, a scholar from Humboldt University in Berlin (and a member of the advisory committee for the project). All three speakers began to unpack the politics of building LGBTQ+ archives and collections, setting the stage for forthcoming events and activities in the Perverse Collections schedule. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Sex and Death: Lively Metaphors in Preservation Practices |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 'Sex and Death: Lively Metaphors in Preservation Practice' was a two-day event organised by the Dutch team of 'Perverse Collections'. (The UK PI was involved in discussions about the event content; he was also present throughout the event, and chaired a session on the second day.) Around 60 people attended the event across the two days, with some overlap in attendees between the two sessions. The first day, held at EYE Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, primarily involved individuals responsible for queer and trans archives talking about their collections and their practices, from large organisations such as IHLIA LGBTI Heritage to more grassroots organisations such as El Punt. The second day mainly involved artists and theorists discussing their own projects, and how these involved LGBTQ+ archives. As the first major event organised by 'Perverse Collections', the workshops were intended to (a) enable project partners and other invested parties to network and socialise, and (b) to begin to explore the sticky metaphors, affects, and categories that gather around these collections. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Workshop: Difficult Objects/Difficult Heritage |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This two day event was hosted by Brighton and Hove Museum (30 January 2025) and Queer Britain museum in London (31 January 2025); the latter is a project partner of 'Perverse Collections'. The closed, invite-only workshop was assembled as a response to requests made at the 'My Evidence' conference (Amsterdam, October 2024): attendees had asked for a space to discuss some of the more thorny more and ethical issues that arise through working with LGBTQ+ materials and histories. The workshop brought together an international group of artists, archivists and museum staff to discuss particular objects, collections and histories. The group all requested that an informal network be created of the attendees, to keep discussions going. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://percol.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/event/difficult-objects-difficult-heritage/ |
| Description | Workshop: QUEERDOM in review |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In June 2024, Glyn Davis, the PI of 'Perverse Collections', was invited to the University of Oxford to take part in a closed workshop. The event focused on presentations related to the QUEERDOM research project which is being run by Prof Tone Hellesund in Norway; most of the talks were by archivists working in collections and institutions in Bergen, Tromso, and elsewhere. In addition to a group of nine visitors from Norway, there was a small group of five respondents, including Prof Davis. Two members of staff from the Skeivt Arkiv (the LGBTQ+ archive in Bergen) gave talks; Skeivt Arkiv is a project partner of 'Perverse Collections'. Davis subsequently gave two talks reflecting on materials discussed at this workshop (in Toronto, July 2024, and St Andrews, August 2024); he will be visiting Skeivt Arkiv in the summer of 2025. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Workshop: Queer Memory and the Politics of the Archive |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | This event was held at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid (one of the Perverse Collections project partners). Across two days in June, around 60 people came together from an array of LGBTQI+ archives in Spain, France, and Italy, to discuss their holdings and the different ideologies underpinning each collection. The main aim of the event was for archivists to network with each other: many of these people had never met each other. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://percol.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/event/workshop-exhibiting-queer-and-trans-collections/ |