Transecological Aesthetics: Lecture and Workshop
with Wibke Straube (Karlstad University, Sweden)
A Collaboration between the DFG Research Training Group „Documentary Practices“ and the Research Colloquium Gender Queer Media Studies at Ruhr-University Bochum
Public Lecture: 12.06.25│18-20 h│UNI105 EG014 (no registration needed)
Workshop: 13.06.25│10-17 h│UNI105 EG015 (registration needed)
We are delighted to welcome Wibke Straube from the Centre for Gender Studies at Karlstad University for a two-day research exchange on Transecological Aesthetics at Ruhr-University Bochum. On Thursday, June 12 (6:00-8:00 pm), Wibke Straube will hold the public lecture „Ecological intimacies. More-than-human becoming with toxins in trans and queer art“.
The lecture will be followed by a workshop on Friday, June 13 (10:00 am – 5:00 pm), delving deeper into trans/queer ecological relationalities and their possible impacts on aesthetic and academic practice.
Both events take place at Ruhr-University Bochum, UNI 105 (Universitätsstraße 105, 44789 Bochum).
Lecture and workshop will be held in English. Both events are open to all interested guests, but places in the workshop on June 13 are limited. To participate, please register until Wednesday, June 11, via email to das-dokumentarische@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Public Lecture (June 12, 6-8 p.m.)
Ecological intimacies. More-than-human becoming with toxins in trans and queer art
Wibke Straube (Karlstad University, Sweden)
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals have recently gained prominence in discussions about the increasing number of trans-identifying youth. Largely ignoring cultural changes that have impacted this, emerging life science research suggests potential links between these chemical compounds and gender dysphoria. Within these discourses, the trans and non-binary body is once again framed as unnatural and polluted—echoing historical eugenicist narratives and decades of stigma that pathologized trans identities as mental illness.
How are trans and queer artists responding to these narratives? What transaesthetic strategies engage with the notion of polluted, unnatural embodiment? In this talk, I will explore these questions through artistic works and the concept of Intimate Otherness, a framework that examines the multi-affective entanglements of human and more-than-human becomings in relation to toxins.
The focus will be on artistic practices in the Nordic and German-speaking contexts—regions where transness has been scientifically framed through narratives of purity, whiteness, and deviance, linking transness in historically and geographically specific ways.
Through autoethnographic writing and collaborations with various artists, I explore the significance of affective autoethnography in queer and transfeminist scholarship, offering a critical perspective on embodiment, toxicity, and intimate Otherness.
The lecture is open to all interested guests. Prior registration is not required.
Wibke Straube is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Psychological Studies, Unit for Gender Studies, at Karlstad University, Sweden. They hold a PhD from Linköping University, and their research explores trans and non-binary embodiment, ecological and posthumanist materialities, as well as possibilities to create zones of liveability. Their work has been published in Environmental Humanities, Screen Bodies, Lambda Nordica, and NORA – Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, among others.
Workshop (June 13, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
with Wibke Straube (Karlstad University, Sweden)
Following Thursday’s lecture, we will further discuss ecological materialities and Intimate Otherness from a trans and queer perspective. Drawing on Prof. Straube’s research and Malin Ah-King’s / Eva Hayward’s work on Toxic Sexes: Perverting Pollution and Queering Hormone Disruption (2019), we will delve deeper into gendered notions of (un)naturalness, resistant trans liveabilities as well as transfeminist aesthetics and scholarship arising from these discourses.
In the afternoon, PhD candidates from the RUB Research Colloquium Gender Queer Media Studies and the DFG Research Training Group “Documentary Practices” will present and discuss parts of their own research relating to different aspects of ecological entanglements affecting queer and gendered media aesthetics.
Workshop Program:
10 -12 a.m.: Follow-up on Thursday’s lecture: Input and discussion with Wibke Straube
12 a.m. – 1 p.m.: “Filming from Snail’s-Eye View: Submerged Vision and the Observational Mode” (Amelie Wedel)
1 – 2 p.m.: Lunch Break
2 – 3 p.m.: “Trans*Affected Home-makings: Intimate Entanglements of Gender Nonconformity and
Domestic Spheres” (Paulena Müller)
3 – 4 p.m.: “Exhibiting Weather: The Making of a Riviera in Colonial Atmospheres” (Lana Uzarashvili)
4 – 5 p.m.: “Attuning to Extractive Environments“ (Natalie Pielok)
Places in the workshop on June 13 are limited. To participate, please register until Wednesday, June 11, via email to das-dokumentarische@ruhr-uni-bochum.de. The texts to be read in preparation for the workshop are provided after registration.
Photo: Gabriel Silverio