Queer nightlife and the potentiality of heterotopic space

Abstract

Over the past decade an explicitly queer nightlife culture has established itself around the globe. Drawing on a mixture of academic theory, political activism, club hedonism and experimental art, these fervent sites have arisen in opposition to the broader assimilative trends that have come to define queer cultural life. In Naarm, a city renowned for its arts scene and progressive values, the queer nightlife ecology is both vibrant and volatile: it is defined as much by its radical political vision as its many failures to achieve it, and its disparate communities are often riven by conflict, disagreements, and harm. Despite nightlife’s promise of liberation and transformation, utopic analys..