Afterall Journal Issue 31: Mobility, Queer Subjectivities, and Post-Soviet Transitions

Afterall Journal issue 31, published October 2012, explores mobility, queer subjectivities, and post-Soviet transitions through essays and artist features. The issue opens with William E. Jones's video essay 'The Fall of Communism As Seen in Gay Pornography' (1998), which compiles gay porn footage from 1993-1998 in the former Eastern bloc, highlighting exploitation and capitalism's victory. Vassilis S. Tsianos and Dimitris Papadopoulos argue migration is an autonomous social force and the death drive of capitalism. Roger Cook discusses Lukas Duwenhögger's queer theatrical paintings and installations, drawing on Jacques Rancière's theory of disagreement. Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz's film installations re-stage historical portraits of marginalized characters. Sven Augustijnen's film 'Spectres' (2011) addresses postcolonial trauma in Belgian Congo. Paul Chan's 'Tin Drum Trilogy' (2002-05) abstracts war violence. Juliane Debeusscher analyzes the 1987 Budapest exhibition 'A harcoló város' by group Inconnu, where artworks were seized by police. Ivan Kožarić's sculptural practice defies categorization. Slavs and Tatars' project 'Not Moscow Not Mecca' (2012) explores syncretism. Almagul Menlibayeva's filmed performances merge historical periods, redefining women's roles in Kazakhstan.