We are witnessing since the 2010s an ever-growing rise of speeches and aesthetics coming from queer and gender studies that transform the theatrical landscape, by questioning its fundamental definitions. This transformation starts by giving the floor to artists who use gender as a plastic and aesthetic matter, to deliver new artistic productions.   

The cluster QUEERNESS wishes to answer a call to “pan-genderism” (pangenréisme), by exploring the diverse representations of gender identities which inhabit these artistic productions. We wish to present research focusing on works and artists that are inspired by queer and gender studies, to find an answer to the aesthetic issues emerging from a thought questioning gender normalization.  

But these artistic forms remain, despite their rise, rather difficult to discover. They lack furthermore scientific resources with which to analyze the transformation of the artistic landscape in light of queer and gender studies. This cluster aims to address the scientific language brought forth by the works of artists inspired by queer speech, while refusing in this perspective to follow a certain artistic hierarchy or geographic border.   

To do so, this cluster focuses on specific studies: queer artistic productions that express themselves through different forms of scenic writing (theater, circus, dance, performance) and take place in a dramatic space (like a definite public space) and/or in a dematerialized space (on social media – Facebook, Instagram or Twitch, etc). These artistic productions use gender as a plastic matter able to redefine at least one of these three fundamental notions in Performing Arts and Cinema: bodiliness, character, and narrative.  

The cluster intends to attract articles or essays dedicated to scenic productions, real or dematerialized, that question the notions of bodiliness, character or narrative according to a “queerized” reading. These contributions must follow a fundamentally aesthetic analytical approach, so they can help queer and gender studies gain a firm anchor in Performing Arts and Cinema studies. They will also seek to illuminate the subtleties emerging from these arts, with their balancing between political and social commitments on the one hand, and aesthetic ones on the other.   

In Vivo works actively to highlight artists’ voices and points of view. Thus, the DIALOGUE(s) section can complete, through different interviews, the scientific approach this cluster defends.