“This world is not enough”: Queer Utopianism as a Tool of Political Transformation

SPEAKERS: Ira Tantsiura, Ruthia Jenrbekova, Ton Melnyk
MODERATOR: Yulia Serdyukova

This panel discussion draws on the work of José Esteban Muñoz to explore the concept of “queer utopia”. Exploring the utopian potential of queerness, the discussion expands on the notion of queer imagination as something broader than sexuality and gender identity. The participants examine the performative nature of queerness, its inherent rejection of the here and now, and its insistence on the potentiality of a concrete possibility for another future.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Ira Tantsiura is a co-founder and programmer at Filma Feminist Film Festival in Ukraine, focusing on principles of intersectional feminism, anti-racism, anti-colonialism, inclusion, and a culture of consent. She is also a queer feminist activist and researcher.

Ruthia Jenrbekova is an artist and researcher from Almaty. She works as an interdisciplinary post-studio artist and cultural organiser. She is the co-founder of krёlex zentre (together with Maria Vilkovisky). Her fields of interest include queer ecology, material semiotics, arts-based methodologies, and trans*feminism. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Ton Melnyk was born in Kyiv in 1988. They are a seamstress, artist, and queer-feminist grassroots activist. Their main mediums are textiles, clothes, theatrical and performative practices, street art, video, and participatory practices, and their main topics are fairly priced labour, the alternative economy, issues of discrimination, illness and anti-burn-out practices, relationships between human and nonhuman creatures, climate change, and anti-war topics. Ton is developing utopian projects about the world they want to live in: without violence, exploitation, built on horizontal relationships, mutual aid, and the value of every life.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR:

Yulia Serdyukova is a documentary film producer and curator. She is a member of the Freefilmers Cinemovement, a co-founder of Filma Feminist Film Festival, and the founder of yutopia films. She is interested in producing and promoting works from independent filmmakers and grassroots initiatives that challenge colonial policies, imperialism, capitalism, patriarchy, and heteronormativity. Among her core curatorial works, Yulia has co-created an online exhibition entitled Trust Cut on the aesthetics, ethics, and politics of documentary film production. Additionally, she often works as a local producer for European media covering the Russian war against Ukraine.