Amplifying the marginalised voices of Chinese Queer Diaspora.

Curated by Whiskey Chow and Sha Li with Chinese Arts Now, Queering Now is the only artist-led event of the Chinese Arts Now Festival 2020. The event seeks to amplify the marginalized voices of the Chinese Queer, situated in a multiplicity of social contexts beyond specific nationality and political borders. This dynamic and exciting program aims to interrogate and investigate the notion of ‘Chinese’ and ‘Chinese Queer’ by bringing multi-layered identities and artists from a diverse background to reflect different approaches in relation to the cultural heritage of queer diaspora.

Special thanks to Burong Zeng

6pm: Queering Now film and live performance programme

The film program features artist Wang Haiyang‘s signature sensory and surreal stop-motion animations, filmmaker and queer activist Fan Popo‘s short film “Beer! Beer”!”, artist and film director Andrew Thomas Huang‘s lush and captivating short film about an ordinary restaurant worker’s extraordinary sexual awakening, followed by young artist April Lin and Jasmine Lin‘s work, a refreshing queer love story: Fragmented Reality 190621, where they merged in both physical and the digital worlds.

The live performances include artist and Chinese drag king Whiskey Chow‘s new iteration of ‘The Moon is Warmer Than the Sun’, which sits between the mythological paradox of power and contemporary queer longing and idolatry, then ’Steamed Three Eggs’, a reading weaving speculative fiction with personal histories by artist Victoria Sin, and multi-disciplinary artist LI YILEI‘s experimental sound work Your Figures are Muted.

10:30pm: Queering Now After Party

The after party is launched by model, musician, witch, and artist Ayesha Tan Jones presents the first act of Parasites of Pangu, a dystopian opera that explores the world through the story of an archeologist of the future, based on a Chinese creation myth. The night ends with a mass queer party with Artist/DJ CHOOC LY.

Queering Now takes place across two spaces – The Stage (Ground Floor) and The Studio (Fourth Floor)

Queering Now is supported by Arts Council England, Diverse Actions(Live Art UK) and Chinese Arts Now.