Christian Liclair in conversation with the artist and writer Jillian McManemin about his book Sexually Explicit Art, Feminist Theory, and Gender in the 1970s and, in particular, the subversive pleasures of BDSM. Drawing on the theorization of sadomasochism from Michel Foucault over P. Califia to DIY manuals from the 1970s, Liclair and McManemin discuss artistic representations of BDSM as a pleasurable experiment to disrupt sexual subjectification and challenge the body’s heteronormative organization, which have been perpetuated by psychoanalytical concepts of sexual desire.

Book cover art: Joan Semmel, Red, White and Blue (1973). Oil on canvas, 46″ × 54″.

Copies of Sexually Explicit Art, Feminist Theory, and Gender in the 1970s  will be available for purchase at the event.

Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming at YouTube.com/@bgsqd

Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.

All are welcome to attend, with or without donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @bgsqd.

Christian Liclair is an art historian and critic. He is currently Editor-in-Chief at the Berlin-based art quarterly TEXTE ZUR KUNST. He received his Ph.D. from Freie Universität Berlin in 2021. After being a Visiting Fellow at the Graduate School for Art and Sciences at Harvard University, he co-established the DFG-funded research project “Aesthetic of Desire: Counter-hegemonic Visualizations of Bodies, Sexuality, and Gender” at Freie Universität Berlin.

Jillian McManemin is a writer, artist, and Founder of the Toppled Monuments Archive. She has written for Hyperallergic, ART PAPERS, The Broadcast, The Brooklyn Rail, BOMB Magazine, Art Agenda, Metrograph Editions, among other publications including forthcoming pieces with TEXTE ZUR KUNST and SITUATIONS Gallery.