What: “Cruising”

Who: Darn Fowler, PhD Student in Moving Image Studies, Georgia State University

When: September 20, 2017, from 3-4:00 PM

Where: CMII Conference Room #211, 25 Park Place, Georgia State University

Cruising is the gay artform of navigating space, others, oppression, and desire to find casual, anonymous sex. It requires playing the game secretly giving and searching for knowing glances and gestures that will allow two men momentary sexual connection, as well as reading space for its safety and availability to such encounters. In this Playtest session, we will investigate how queerness and its desires navigate space, especially when that space (be it a 1962 bathroom or a video game streaming platform) actively works to contain and violate queer people. To do this, we will play Robert Yang’s gay cruising simulator, The Tearoom, as well as discuss Yang’s own writing on queer history and the censorship of queer games (warning: sexually suggestive content).

Daren Fowler is a PhD Student in Moving Image Studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta. His research focuses on queer materialism to consider the contemporary possibilities for a queer aesthetic politics. Daren is also the Managing Editor for liquid blackness.