Cruising as theory and practice: preserving New York’s ruined waterfront

Fiona Anderson's forthcoming book "Cruising the Dead River: David Wojnarowicz and New York’s Ruined Waterfront" looks at how and why the harbour hosted a vibrant cruising scene and art scene in the years preceding the AIDS epidemic. In this talk, Anderson explores how the history of these ruins is a history of power and how the practice of cruising, as a mode of seeing and being seen, can help us understand that better. The speaker will share some of her research into the ways in which artistic and erotic appropriations of this site comingled, reflect on the idea of cruising as both a queer erotic and cultural practice and a generative research practice, and look at the persistent appropriation of the harbour in the present as a key site of supergentrification in Manhattan today. What can cruising in ruins tell us about the practice of remembering and queer acts of resistance to gentrification?

All welcome! No need to sign up. Drinks and nibbles will be provided.