A queer display
Description
Memorials, monuments, museums, and public spaces “honor the memory” of people or events that have some claim to that space. In these myths that become spatial in the public realm, who is it that gets remembered? Certainly, these projects are important for the desire to pass along history and offer space to gather and contemplate. However, they are not without myriad problems. Rituals are not solely contemplative practice, they need action to transform. In mourning and memorial, we transform a sometimes painful past into a more positive future. Critique of these projects can only encourage better iterations in the future. This thesis will imagine a space meant to allow its occupants to live with this history with the goal of crafting a future through collaborative praxis. While ritual spaces have a long history and many forms, the museum and archive have evolved radically in their trajectories. Beginning with a temple or government plunder display and moving into the public education centers of contemporary times, museums now occupy both a public and private sphere. These spaces operate by telling stories about the public it seeks to serve and are prime locations to explore queer narratives. Further, the act of living with this history can blur the lines of public and private for the occupants. Through an exploration of what queer modes of display would be from material choice to the intended audience, the space itself can become an active participant in these narratives, bridging time and space towards a more nuanced understanding of queer lives.