Sensuous knowledge is kaleidoscopic, meaning that it can be understood as something that can coexist with other ways of sharing knowledge (with/within), rather than a binary setting (either/or). Sensuousness is a method to imagine paths, through which a “language that does not yet exist” can be created and can take form in poetry, playfulness, borderless, conscientiousness, dialogue, warmth, passion, compassion and many more.
The idea of thinking from/with/within, is reinforced by Chicana feminist Gloria Anzaldúa’s notion of nepantla, and can be translated as a “way of being between waters”. These displacements, not only geographical, but also as subjectivities and identities, offer a unique position to observe and experience another understanding of being. These perspectives that disidentify from heteronormative and hegemonic structures, allow, as scholar Sarah Ahmed proposes, the possibility of making connections through desire lines and creating queer –and cuir– landscapes for a future that is yet to come, as suggested by the late Cuban scholar, José Esteban Muñoz. The spelling of Cuir is a way to phonetically re-appropriate the concept of queer from Latin American Spanish, adding intersectional and decolonial perspectives.
In their entirety, these displacements, as Paul B. Preciado suggests, reflect not only on the radical transformation of both the traveling body and of the society that either receives or rejects them, but also on the structures created to shape and maintain a notion of citizenship and humanity.
‘Gestures and Nods. A Seminar on Cuir/Queer Approaches to Knowledge Sharing Through Performance’ is curated by Itzel Esquivel/Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) and organised in collaboration with Bergen Kunsthall. Discussion partners Giovanna Espossito, Liv Brissach, Martina Petrelli and Minna Salami.
