Discomfort, Disruption, Disgust: Queer Feminist Curating and the Affective

Abstract

This article examines how queer feminist curating operates through affect, emphasizing discomfort, disruption, and disgust as politically productive forces. Drawing on affect theory and queer theory, it positions the curatorial as a critical practice that unsettles normative regimes and destabilizes entrenched power relations. Through analysis of the exhibitions Fat Femme Furious by Julischka Stengele and Und ich hab schon wieder Hunger/You make me very hungry by Lisa Holzer, the article demonstrates how negative affects reveal internalized social norms regarding bodies, gender, care, and visibility. Rather than mitigating dissonance, queer feminist curating can strategically mobilize affective responses to expose hegemonic structures and cultivate spaces for various marginalized communities. Affect thus functions as both a methodological lens and a mode of cultural critique, enabling reflection on representation, spectatorship, and the transformative potential of exhibitions within contemporary social contexts.