PAWTalks: TRAXXX: Black Queer Nightlife in High Fidelity

TRAXXX: Black Queer Nightlife in High Fidelity, featuring madison moore, Kristy la rAt and lighting by Artemis, is an invitation for you to come and catch the beat. Black queer dance floors have always served something else — a vibrant and vibrating antidote to the here and now. The most important clubs in Black queer nightlife history, from The Warehouse (Chicago) to Paradise Garage (New York) were known for serving ovah beats, guiding clubbers eager to ride waveforms to other dimensions. What do these frequencies of Black queerness make possible? The performance will include a conversation with artist and DJ Kristy la rAt and lighting by Artemis.

madison moore is an artist-scholar, DJ, and assistant professor of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University. madison (any pronouns)  holds a PhD in American Studies from Yale and has previously held positions in the Roski School of Art and Design at the University of Southern California, Virginia Commonwealth University, The New School, the University of Richmond and King’s College London, and has also been a visiting guest artist in the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. He is broadly invested in the aesthetic, sonic and spatial strategies queer and trans people of color use to both survive and thrive in the five alarm fire of everyday life. His first book, Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018), offers a cultural analysis of fabulousness as a practice of resistance. They are currently working on a second book project, HOW TO GET YOUR (NIGHT) LIFE (under contract, Yale University Press), focused on Black queer nightlife as a method of living.

This event is open to all UMBC community members including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Light refreshments will be provided at 7:15 p.m. in the Performing Arts and Humanities Building Atrium for attendees who RSVP on myUMBC.

This event is produced with support from the Department of Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies, this event is in conjunction with i3b’s 2nd Annual Pride Week and The Mosaic’s 20th Anniversary.