On November 15, 2012 Strange Loop Gallery began hosting the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, and we now proudly announce that our collaboration shall continue indefinitely.
In November, the Bureau exhibited a group of multiples selected by Scott Hug, including works by Chris Bogia, A.K. Burns, Timothy Hull and Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Joe Mama-Nitzberg, Desi Santiago, and others. Strange Loop and Shane Shane presented Electric Eclectic Beauties of the Glorious Nightlife in December, featuring photographs by Jordan Fox, Alberto Cortes, Shane Shane, and others. The following month, the Bureau hosted J. Morrison’s exhibition HomoCats: Fight the Power. Strange Loop curated the current exhibition, Samantha Box: Invisible, drawn from Box’s series of photographs of queer homeless youth in NYC, and Strange Loop will present Kenny Kenny 13, photographs of the downtown legend by Alice O’Malley opening Friday, March 8.
In the first three months at Strange Loop, the Bureau has hosted a broad range of authors, performers, musicians, and activists, both emerging and established. Ella Boureau, Max Steele, and Joseph Whitt read at our grand opening. In the weeks that followed, Nathan Manske and other contributors to the I’m from Driftwood project shared their accounts of growing up queer in a variety of geographical contexts; Sarah Schulman discussed her recent book Israel/Palestine and the Queer International; Christopher Bram read fromEminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America; Edmund White entertained us with excerpts from his forthcoming Paris Memoir; and Pamela Sneed and Laurie Weeks performed at the Bureau in January. Christopher Stoddard and Gio Black Peter presented work from their limited-edition magazine SATANICA along with fellow contributors Bruce Benderson, Slava Mogutin, Max Steele, and Micki Pellerano. The launchings of Stephen Boyer’s debut novel Parasite, issue 18 of Spank Magazine (featuring downtown legend Chi Chi Valenti), and issue 5 of FAQNP: FAQNP’s a Queer Nerd Publicationalso took place at the Bureau. These events—and there have been many more—demonstrate the vitality of this new cultural institution.
In the coming weeks, the Bureau will host the Bushwick Book Club, Cynthia Carr, Annie Lanzillotto, Dean Kostos, Martin Hyatt, Luis Jaramillo, Andrew Zornoza, and contributors to The Letter Q: Queer Writers’ Notes to Their Younger Selves, amongst others.
Strange Loop Gallery and the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division are pleased to continue to offer exhibitions, events, performances, books, zines, periodicals, and art works to queers and our allies.
