7 December 2014 – 31 March 2015
Opening Night: 6 December, 19h
Curators: Patsy Henze, Laura Méritt, Kevin Clarke and Sarah Schaschek
Exhibition design and art work by Raoul Horvay/Verein der Gestaltung
For the first time ever, an exhibition combines the developments, past and present, of gay, lesbian, trans* and queer pornography.
“Porn That Way” is an academic, critical, yet sensual show. It covers the history of homosexual porn, from the dark and hidden alleys of the 19th century to the out-and-proud products of the 1970s, from the films of the AIDS crisis years to the current sex-positive feminist movement, the advent of “Romantic Porn” as the next step after “Reality Porn 2.0”, as well as the ever expanding trans*porn movement.
Photos, postcards, films, magazines, costumes, contracts, original tapes, posters and flyers – as well as vintage dildos, injection needles, pills and camera equipment – from archives, studios and private donors around the world mirror the continuing emancipation of queer sexualities. The objects on display emphasize the enormous differences, both in terms of time periods as well as with regard to commercialism, which is entirely different in gay and lesbian pornography, not to mention trans* porn. Only in the recent past have the dividing lines been slightly blurred.
Access to the exhibition is restricted to people 18 years or older.
The exhibition “Porn That Way” is accompanied by an event series called “Screening Desire,” a cooperation of the LGBTI Department of the Humboldt University and the Friends of “Sexclusivitäten.” Also, there is a film series shown at Germany’s oldest cinema, Moviemento (Kottbusser Damm 22/Berlin-Kreuzberg), a collaboration of the Porn Film Festival Berlin, PorYes, and the Feminist Porn Award Europe.
The exhibition is supported by Cazzo Porn Studios and Entekross; Cooperation partner are the Bruno Gmünder Group, Siegessäule, PorYes, Queer.de, Sexclusivitäten and Moviemento, among others.
Curators are offering exclusive guided tours:
„A Fag’s Perspective“ (Eine tuntige Perspektive): 17 December, 18h (Patsy l’Amour laLove)
„A Feminist Perspective“ (Eine feministische Perspektive): 14 January, 19h (Laura Méritt)
„A Trans*Perspective“ (Eine Trans*-Perspektive): 18 February 2015, 19 Uhr (Laura Méritt)
„A Queer-Feminist Perspective“ (Eine queer-feministische Perspektive): 18 March 2015, 19h (Laura Méritt)
Additional guided tours with the curators (also in English) can be arranged on request.
Patrick Henze (Patsy l’Amour laLove) is a board member of the Schwules Museum*. He has catalogued the 8-mm-collection of gay and lesbian porn in the archive of the museum. Henze is currently writing his PhD on the Gay Liberation Movement of the 1970s; he regularly publishes on topics of gay mainstream pornography. As a self-declared “political faggot” he works at the LGBTI Department of the Humboldt University, Berlin.
Laura Méritt is a sex activist, feminist linguist and gelotologist. For the past 20 years she has been running the first feminist sex shop in Europe, “Sexclusivitäten.” Together with the Friends of Sexclusivitäten she organizes sex education campaigns and holds a weekly salon on Fridays in Berlin. She initiated the PornYes Award, the Feminist Porn Film Prize Europe, and proclaimed – together with other pioneers – the “International Whore Day”.
Kevin Clarke studied musicology and literature, writing his doctoral thesis at the FU Berlin. As an author, journalist and curator he has specialized on LGBT topics. In 2010 he organized the exhibition on Erik Charell and Gay Operetta at the Schwules Musuem*, in 2012 the exhibition “Welt der Operette” at the Theatre Museum Vienna. He is the author of the bestsellers “Porn: From Any Warhol to X-Tube” and “Beards: An Unshaved History.”
Sarah Schaschek is a journalist dealing with questions of femininity, masculinity, and sexuality. She studied American cultural sciences, media studies and theology in Bonn and Prague. She worked together with porn studies pioneer Linda Williams at Berkely and wrote her PhD on “Pornography and Seriality: The Culture of Producing Pleasure.”