Queer Art History – Methods and Terms | Art History

18 May 2026

Time: 10:00 - 15:30

Location: Kunstmuseum Basel & Forum eikones, Rheinsprung 11, 4051 Basel

Organizer:
Kunsthistorisches Seminar, Laurenz-Professur für Zeitgenössische Kunst

Workshop

Queer Art History – Methods and Terms

This one-day workshop, organized in conjunction with the exhibition The First Homosexuals: The Birth of New Identities 1869–1939 at the Kunstmuseum Basel, engages with the methods and terms of queer art history. Curator Jonathan D. Katz and associate curator Johnny Willis will share insights into the exhibition’s conceptual framework and the research process behind this scholarly exhibition and publication project. A central aim of the workshop is to explore what queer methodologies can contribute to art historical inquiry, while also critically addressing unresolved questions and reflecting on the project’s limitations and omissions. The morning session, held at the museum, will consist of a joint walkthrough of the exhibition and discussion of selected works. The afternoon session, hosted at eikones, will focus on lesbian and trans artists, as well as the question of colonialism. It will further develop questions of methodology and terminology through a discussion of readings circulated in advance.

Program

10 am – 12 pm (Kunstmuseum Basel)
Opening input by Jonathan D. Katz

Joint walkthrough of the exhibition The First Homosexuals and discussion of selected works

12 pm – 1.30 pm
Lunch break

1.30 pm – 3.30 pm (eikones)
Discussion of methods and terms, based on selected readings from the catalog The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity 1869–1939 (ed. Jonathan D. Katz with Johnny Willis, New York 2025):

Jonathan D. Katz, “Introduction,” pp. 8–15
Douglas Pretsell, “The Crucible of Sexual Orientation: Sexual Theories and Identities in Nineteenth-Century Germany,” pp. 38–43
Catherine Gonnard and Tirza True Latimer, “Unbecoming Women: Becoming Lesbians in the Arts, 1850s–1920s France,” pp. 80–87
Joseph Shaikewitz, “Inversions: Errancy and Abundance in Brazil and the Southern Cone,” pp. 236–243

3.30 pm – 4.30 pm (eikones)
Coffee break

4.30 pm – 6 pm (eikones)

New Directions Doctoral Forum: Queer Methodologies

Presentations of newly starting dissertation projects:

– Sarah Bricke (PhD Candidate, Art History, Theory and Criticism, Department of Visual Arts, University of California, San Diego): “Without Permission: Artistic Interventions and Spaces of Encounter at the Hudson River Piers”
– Eli Ståhl (PhD Candidate, Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien): “Between Abstraction and Figuration: Gender Nonconformity in Twentieth Century Painting”

6 pm
Apero

Limited number of participants. To register and receive the readings as a PDF, please write to: charlotte.matter@clutterunibas.ch

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