Sexual Choreography Queer identity, post-AIDS and post-Internet

In this practice-led study, I investigate Queer experience from a personal perspective, at the end of the AIDS epidemic and the beginning of a digital revolution in popular culture. My contention is that these two historical factors, both the progressive narrative of AIDS and the invention of digital networking systems, have culminated and conflated to produce a new era that may be referred to simply as 'post-AIDS.' Sexual Choreography investigates this period, aligning performance and cultural theory with new media and Queer studies, to convey a sense of the radical shifts in the ways Queer identity emerges out of culture; from our interactions with each other; with technology; and with the broader world around us. This study explores multi-disciplinary approaches such as drawing and painting, poetry, dance and 16 mm film, to re-imagine experiences and explore meanings in new and reparative ways. The project works in two phases: the first half addresses memories of the AIDS era through the lens of analogue technologies. Video and film are initially explored as a mode of expression through performative artworks that refer to erotic expression within nightclub and drag ball culture, and by association, the ensuing AIDS epidemic that unfolded during this time. The second half of this PhD project explores a post-Internet, digital context, incorporating the new cultures of Grindr, geo-social networking and the ethos of social media through digitally produced, text-based artworks. While Sexual Choreography responds to intimate experiences that are personally relevant to me, the project also seeks to contribute more broadly to Queer advocacy and culture, by exploring Queer identity as a phenomenon that is shaped and formed by the interaction between personal experience and collective Queer histories, in relation to AIDS and the proliferation of the Internet. Through art and practical research, my findings convey a deeper understanding to a broader audience of the manner in which Queer identity is formed through memories and personal histories, but also through the collective knowledge of common cultural experiences that become increasingly complex, as LGBTQI+ people situate themselves within a new, post-AIDS and post-digital cultural context.