Emerging Queer Worlds
A six-session workshop series introducing participants to the practice of queer worldbuilding
This six-session workshop series introduces participants to different forms of queer worldbuilding through historical, artistic, and cultural references, as well as interactive, creative exercises in collaboration with invited artists. The program is led by Gyula Muskovics, a curator, art writer, researcher, performer, and founder of the multidisciplinary artist group Hollow.
Emerging Queer Worlds provides insight into the foundations of queer theory while placing special emphasis on the differences between Eastern European and Western (North American) narratives. It presents a range of Hungarian and regional examples—some of which are lesser-known. Throughout the program, we will discuss what worldbuilding means and experiment with an interactive world-making game, where we collectively construct an imagined queer reality step by step. In addition to these exercises, we will continuously explore queer narratives—through texts, guest speakers, films, documentaries, and literary and artistic examples—that will serve as inspiration for our collaborative creative process.
Our invited speakers include game designer and media artist Tamás Páll, who will provide practical guidance on character creation. Photographer Lilla Szász will join to discuss her past project on cruising—a specific form of queer connectivity in public spaces. We will also be joined by dancer and performance artist Csaba Molnár, appearing as his alter ego, Nicole Clore, who will guide participants through somatic exercises to help them embody the emerging reality.
World-making is not only about the future but also about the past—about the histories we choose to reference as our own. A key focus of the workshop is reinterpreting and reclaiming histories that have been distorted or appropriated over time. We will ask how we can disrupt the status quo and mainstream narratives, making space for alternative storytelling. The experiences and insights gained throughout the workshop will culminate in a pop-up installation and/or performance, serving as both a summary of our collective world and a tribute to what we have built together.
Structure of the Emerging Queer Worlds Workshop Series
(Subject to change based on participants' needs.)
Session 1: Introduction to Queer Worldbuilding
May 10, 2025 | 14:00–19:00
In this first session, after introductions, we will clarify key concepts central to the workshop. We will explore what the term queer can mean and discuss why this theme holds significance in contemporary Hungary.
Session 2: The Practices of Worldbuilding – Elements of a Queer World
May 17, 2025 | 14:00–19:00
This session focuses on queer worldbuilding as a form of resistance against dominant systems of reality. Our guest will be game designer and media artist Tamás Páll, with whom we will discuss his creative practice and the activities of the Hollow artist collective, which we co-founded in 2018 alongside choreographer Viktor Szeri.
Session 3: Cruising, Self-Organization, and the Underground – The Functioning of a Queer World
May 24, 2025 | 14:00–19:00
Here, we will explore queer modes of connection and how these practices enable communities to resist oppressive structures. Our guest will be photographer Lilla Szász, who will contribute insights based on her past projects.
Session 4: Queer Characters and Drag – The Inhabitants of a Queer World
June 7, 2025 | 14:00–19:00
This session focuses on character creation, exploring alternative identities, alter egos, and personas. Our guest will be choreographer, performer, and dancer Csaba Molnár, appearing as his artistic alter ego Nicole Clore. Through somatic techniques, he will guide participants in embodying a fictional character.
Session 5: Queer Rewriting of History – The Timeline of a Queer World
June 12, 2025 | 16:00–21:00
This session explores queer perspectives on time and history. As part of the workshop, we will visit Háttér Archive, Budapest’s most extensive queer archive, to engage with historical materials and narratives.
Session 6: The End of a Queer World
June 21, 2025 | 14:00–19:00
This final workshop session will be dedicated to reflecting on our collective work and bringing closure to the creative process.
Session 7: Farewell
June 24, 2025 | 14:00–19:00
In this session, we will enact the practical realization of the end of the world. Using materials from the previous session, we will create an installation and accompanying event, where we will bid farewell to each other and to the queer world we have built together.
Gyula Muskovics is a curator, writer, artist, and researcher living and working in Budapest and New York. He is a former staff member of tranzit.hu and a founding member of the immersive performance art group Hollow. From the fall of 2024, he has been a researcher at Howl Arts in New York City, and between autumn 2023 and spring 2024 he was a Fulbright fellow at The Museum of Modern Art and New York University. His works and publications are motivated by a pull towards the edge and revolve around subversion, queer desire, intimacy, and the political capabilities of the body. He has performed, exhibited, and curated projects in public spaces, theatres, galleries and festivals across Europe, including Trafó House of Contemporary Art in Budapest, House of Arts in Brno, MeetFactory in Prague, radialsystem in Berlin, Donaufestival in Krems, and SoMad in New York. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest, where he wrote his dissertation on the avant-garde fashion circles of Eastern Europe, with a focus on the work of Hungarian designer Tamás Király. He has lectured at NGbK and Slavs and Tatars' Pickle Bar in Berlin, the School of Visual Arts in New York, the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago, and the Maska Institute in Ljubljana. His writings have been published in the European Journal of Women's Studies, DIK Fagazine, CTM Magazine, Momus Journal, Artmargins, and post - MoMA. He is currently working on a publication exploring Hungary's queer past in collaboration with Karol Radziszewski.
