Towards A Common Survival
The Institute of Queer Ecology
Presented by Prairie, Chicago
May 26 - July 1, 2018
The Institute of Queer Ecology (IQECO) was founded, out of necessity, as an act of resistance. It is an institute of hope and relentless optimism towards a utopian ideal, asking only for a place in this world for organisms of every kingdom, gender, and sexuality. IQECO evolved in the tidepool of fear and urgency that followed the 2016 election. In the past 17 months, the Trump administration has pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord, restricted the rights of transgender inmates, appointed a climate science denier to the helm of the EPA, quietly removed the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, and made countless (relentless) other steps towards the erasure of environmental and LGBTQ+ concerns. The question at hand now is simply: How Do We Survive?
That question is loaded. Many of us are growing numb to the bombardment of slow violence which disproportionately affects groups of people that have historically experienced injustice. This resurgence of biopolitical control, overt racism and (capitalistic) environmental destruction in America angers many of us but is also actively destroying peoples lives. Personal survival is not on all of our individual minds, but Common Survival—for our extended communities—needs to be.
Common Survival manifests as a multiformat publication, contained within an 11 x 17 x 5 inch box. The 33 included projects appear as texts, zines, screen prints, photographs, sculptural objects, poems, video, audio recordings and other hybridized modes of research display. The publication is the result of an international open call and includes contributions from:
Agustine Zegers
Allyson Church + Greta Skagerlind
Amanda Baum & Rose Leahy
Andil Gosine
Andrea Tirrell
Angela Chan / algaela
Antonia Wright
Catriona Sandilands
Charlie Ehrenfried
Corinne Teed
David Kim
Edgar Xochitl
Emily Harter
Emily Jones
Estraven Lupino-Smtih
Haley Bueschlen
Invisible Labor
Jack Schneider
Lee Pivnik
Les U. Knight
Lucy Cleek
Luis Angel Zepeda
Marius Mason
Micah Schippa
Michelle Site
Molly Adams
Nicolas Baird
Pinar Ateş Sinopoulos-Lloyd
Plasticity Gabriele Leo - Grazia Mappa
POSADAS - Pablo Herza, Ignacio Hernández Murillo
Queer EcoJustice Project
Quinn Harrelson
Rachel Weaver - Weaver Zines
Ryan Hammond
Sabeen Chaudhry
Tiger Dingsun
Tim Mann
Virtuellestheater
At the conclusion of the exhibition 'Common Survival' will be available to loan from the Institute of Queer Ecology. Message info@queerecology.org for more information.
Additionally, an online archive of the entire project is available here.