If queer historical past have been a whodunnit, its largest thriller can be: Properly, who framed it? The reply, fortunately, is a large number of museums, archives, and galleries worldwide. These bastions of LGBTQ+ tradition protect our his/herstory and the works of our best queer artists – foiling all conservative plots to erase us from the previous.
So, from Stonewall to Tom of Finland, these are our favourite museums and galleries all over the world for queer tradition vultures to go to on their travels.
Schwules Museum – Berlin (Germany)
Berlin is a bohemian paradise, having been a refuge for queer individuals way back to the Nineteen Twenties. Subsequently, it ought to come as no shock that it homes the first-ever museum on the planet devoted to LGBTQ+ historical past.
Opened in 1985, the Schwules Museum reveals the hidden narratives of LGBTQ+ lives by means of artwork, pictures, and archives. Previous and current exhibitions embrace Lesbian Conspiracies, exploring lesbian subcultures; Queering the Crip, Cripping the Queer, addressing incapacity and queerness; Rainbow Arcade, documenting LGBTQ+ gaming historical past; and 100 Objects: An Archive of Emotions, telling queer tales by means of artifacts.
One of the vital cutting-edge museums on the planet, the Schwules Museum stays the true daddy of queer museums!
Leather-based Archives & Museum – Chicago (US)
Talking of daddies, the leather-based and kink neighborhood has all the time been a basic a part of the LGBTQ+ world. Chicago’s Leather-based Archives & Museum (LA&M) pays tribute to all issues kink and most positively isn’t your common present store expertise! Its exhibitions function uncommon artifacts, classic BDSM gear, iconic images, and private tales from the leather-based and fetish communities.
Everlasting shows just like the Dungeon Exhibit immerse guests within the aesthetics of BDSM, whereas rotating exhibitions showcase erotic artwork, historic membership memorabilia, and private archives of kinky pioneers. What’s extra, the museum doubles as a membership, holding occasions like fetish movie nights, kinky storytelling periods, and leather-based nights.
Stonewall Nationwide Museum, Archives, & Library – Fort Lauderdale (US)
The Stonewall rebellion of 1969 was the Large Bang of contemporary LGBTQ+ rights, and Fort Lauderdale’s Stonewall Nationwide Museum, Archives, & Library (SNMAL) ensures its legacy is rarely forgotten by means of an in depth assortment of LGBTQ+ literature, artifacts, and historic paperwork.
In addition to a rotating sequence of exhibitions, it homes just a few everlasting fixtures, together with a Timeline of American LGBTQIA+ Historical past, chronicling important occasions and milestones within the LGBTQIA+ neighborhood, and the John C. Graves Library, one of many largest LGBTQIA+ lending libraries in the USA. The library holds over 28,000 volumes, together with practically 1,000 uncommon books, all associated to LGBTQIA+ subjects.
Queer Britain – London (UK)
London has all the time been on the homosexual pulse —simply ask Oscar Wilde. So, it is shocking the town took so lengthy for it to have a devoted LGBTQ+ museum. Queer Britain in King’s Cross proves the worth in being fashionably late although and as a newcomer to the cultural scene (established in 2022) it is already making waves with its dynamic exhibitions celebrating British queer icons, untold histories, and radical activism.
The museum’s inaugural exhibition, We Are Queer Britain, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the UK’s first Satisfaction March and showcased a vibrant assortment of voices, artifacts, and pictures from activism, artwork, tradition, and social historical past. Current exhibitions have included collaborations with neighborhood teams, akin to We Are LGBTQIA+ ESEA, which celebrated the contributions and narratives of East and Southeast Asian LGBTQIA+ people.
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Artwork – New York (US)
Tucked away in Soho, New York Metropolis, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Artwork is an iconic LGBTQIA+ establishment. Based within the Sixties and later turning into an official museum in 2011, its assortment of queer artwork spans from underground erotica to modern masterpieces.
The brainchild of artists Charles Leslie and J. Frederic “Fritz” Lohman (thus the title), the museum has amassed a everlasting assortment of over 30,000 objects, together with works by famend artists akin to Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, and Catherine Opie. This in depth archive spans varied mediums—portray, sculpture, pictures, and extra—displaying that queer artists all through historical past depart no canvas unpainted.
Australian Queer Archives – Melbourne (Australia)
Heading down beneath, Australian Queer Archives (previously ALGA) affords a powerful assortment of data, images, and memorabilia, celebrating the wealthy historical past of LGBTQIA+ communities in Australia. Established in 1978 throughout the 4th Nationwide Gay Convention in Sydney, AQuA has amassed a set exceeding 500,000 gadgets, making it essentially the most in depth repository of LGBTQIA+ supplies within the nation.
AQuA actively curates and collaborates on a rotating spectrum of exhibitions to showcase features of its assortment and spotlight important moments in LGBTQIA+ historical past like in Serving in Silence? Australian LGBTI Navy Service Since WWII, exploring the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people within the Australian army.
Tom of Finland Basis – Los Angeles (US)
The enduring works of Tom of Finland are little question liable for many a person’s found sexuality and his hyper-masculine drawings of leather-clad males are virtually synonymous now with homosexual erotic artwork. His former house in Los Angeles now serves as a basis and archive, holding the most important assortment of his work, in addition to exhibitions by LGBTQ+ artists who’ve adopted Tom’s lead in pushing the boundaries of expression.
The muse usually hosts rotating exhibitions, artist residencies, and academic applications, fostering discussions on the significance of erotic expression in queer tradition. Occasions like Life Drawing Classes and the annual Tom of Finland Artwork & Tradition Competition have a good time queer artistry throughout a number of mediums.
The Andy Warhol Museum – Pittsburgh (US)
Andy Warhol was not only a pop artwork genius; he was a trailblazer of queer visibility. The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh is a love letter to him and the most important museum devoted to a single artist within the US.
Unfold throughout seven flooring, the museum homes an in depth assortment of Warhol’s iconic works, together with Campbell’s Soup Cans, Marilyn Monroe prints, his many drag queen sketches, and experimental movies like Sleep and Empire. For a deeper look into his stunning psyche, the museum additionally holds private archives, uncommon sketches, interactive reveals, and Warhol’s Time Capsules—a sequence of over 600 bins full of private artifacts.
Dalí Theatre-Museum – Figueres (Spain)
Was Salvador Dalí queer? The jury continues to be on that one, however he definitely had experiences with males. One factor is definite although—his work defied norms and gender expectations in a approach that’s unmistakably queer. The Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres is an immersive, surrealist wonderland that displays the artist’s eccentric thoughts. Opened in 1974 and constructed on the ruins of a former theater, the museum was personally designed by Dalí and it exhibits as a result of even the constructing is a piece of bizzarity.
The within doesn’t disappoint both as a labyrinth of spiral staircases, mirrored rooms, and immersive installations. It additionally holds the most important assortment of Dalí’s works, together with all kinds of strange work, sculptures, and mechanical gadgets. A spotlight of the museum is Dalí’s crypt, the place the artist is buried beneath the stage, making it his closing murals.
Queer historical past isn’t simply framed, it’s properly hung and these museums show that whereas the world tries to rewrite us, we’ll all the time have the receipts—and the exhibitionist streak wanted to indicate them off with pleasure!
Characteristic picture by Queer Britain,