OUT/LOOK and the Birth of the Queer

OUT/LOOK and the Birth of the Queer, a collaboration between artist E.G. Crichton and the GLBT Historical Society of San Francisco, launches October 6, 2017 at the GLBT Museum and in cyberspace. It includes a multi-media exhibition, a website, event programming and a publication.

This multi-prong project comes together for the 30th anniversary of a magazine that had deep impact on queer communities nationally. Published 1987 - 1992, OUT/LOOK National Lesbian and Gay Quarterly was racially inclusive, addressed gender complexity, focused on politics and culture alike, wrestled with topics that were controversial or not yet articulated, and emphasized visual work along with scholarly and creative writing. In a period before LGBT Studies and queer theory were established in the university, OUT/LOOK built a bridge between academic inquiry and broader community. OUT/LOOK also created the influential OutWrite conferences; the first one, held in San Francisco and attended by over 1200 people, featured keynote speakers Judy Grahn and Allen Ginsberg. The impact of OUT/LOOK and OutWrite is still discussed and its articles are still taught in college classrooms.

E.G. Crichton, a co-founder, art director and editor for the magazine, is creative director of OUT/LOOK and the Birth of the Queer. Original founder and publisher Jeffrey Escoffier is coordinating efforts in New York. This project is made possible in part by a grant from The Creative Work Fund, a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund that also is supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

A critical component of OUT/LOOK and the Birth of the Queer is the invitation to 37 post-OUT/LOOK queer writers, artists, activists, performers and curators to respond to a particular issue by creating a new piece. These people are invited to use their matched issue as a score to invent something new and provocative in the medium of their choice. It is our hope that the conversations and debates this project spawns contribute to jumpstarting a new national dialogue within the wide intergenerational spectrum of our communities.

To peruse digital OUT/LOOK: http://tinyurl.com/OUTLOOKdigital

To access the OUT/LOOK and the Birth of the Queer website: http://www.queeroutlook.org/