Musea Brugge (Museums Bruges) is organising the arts festival ‘Queer Was Here‘, from Saturday 4 to Sunday 26 March 2023 at Salon Arents in Bruges. 

“An inspiring buzz reigns – as usual – at Salon Arents in March. Throughout the month, Musea Brugge invites guest curators Kim Note (photographer) and Maria Kleopatra (model and DJ) for the arts festival ‘Queer Was Here’. With a queer art exhibition and a calendar full of lectures, debates, sessions and parties in and around the salon, we are entering the conversation about the (under)representation of LGBTQ in museums. Neon lights, drag queens and debates at the cutting edge. This is ‘Queer Was Here'”, Musea Brugge say. 

“Salon Arents is a cosy and open meeting place, where we invite you as visitor to pause and reflect on the future of heritage, art and museums. How should we collect and display art and artifacts in the 21st century? How can we keep our finger on the pulse of what is happening? We can do this by organising quirky and thought-provoking (collection) presentations, lectures and debates.”

The schedule

• Vernissage and opening party. Saturday 4 March, 6PM, Salon Arents / Arentshuis. We open the festival with the festive vernissage of the queer art expo in Salon Arents. Drag DJ duo House of Lux will kick off the evening with catchy records and performances. Dj-duo Mutant Transmissions will close the evening.
• Talk Joppe De Campeneere (in Dutch). Tuesday 7 March, 8PM, Salon Arents / Arentshuis. As content creator at Wel Jong vzw, LGBTQIA+ activist and fashion icon, Joppe De Campeneere is a champion of self-determination (self)expression and inclusiveness. In their talk, Joppe discusses the sense and nonsense of masculinity and femininity.
• Drag Queen story hour (in Dutch). Sunday 12 March, 3.30PM, Salon Arents /Arentshuis. A warm reading hour for preschoolers (3-6 years old) by a beautifully dressed drag queen. The booklet, selected by queer bookstore Rokko, brings a story about tolerance, love and inclusiveness.
• WAWWA drawing session. Sunday 12 March, 2PM, Groeninge Museum.We Are What We Are: drawing session with model in the Groeninge Museum, with a touch of queerness. In collaboration with De Tank and Het Entrepot.
• An Evening with Fleur Pierets (in Dutch). Thursday 16 March, 8pm, Salon Arents / Arentshuis.An intimate evening of conversation with writer and LGBTQIA+ activist Fleur Pierets, with room for engaging dialogues, pressing questions and topical views.
• Brunch lecture: ‘Contain and sing‘. The representation of homoeroticism in late medieval art (in Dutch). Sunday 19 March, 11AM, Salon Arents / Arentshuis. Welcome to Salon Arents for bagels and a lecture on the representation of homosexuality in late medieval art by historian Jonas Roelens.
• End debate (of the festival) ‘Are we there yet?‘. Sunday 26 March, 2PM, Salon Arents / Arentshuis. We close ‘Queer Was Here’ with a final debate on the place of queer art in museums and other cultural institutions.
• Finissage Queer Cabaret. Sunday 26 March, 8PM, De Snuffel (Ezelstraat 42). Finish in style with an evening of cabaret with drag, spoken word, vogue, music, burlesque and boylesque in De Snuffel.