Homomuseum is an in-depth and multi-faceted glimpse into the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) icons and histories that shape contemporary art and culture today. The Homomuseum takes its poignant title from the idea of an imaginary national art museum dedicated to the presentation and historicizing of art created by LGBT artists. Conceptualized by Exit Art co-founders, Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo, Homomuseum presents the visions and stories of LGBT artists, in the post-Mapplethorpe and post-AIDS activism of the 1980s. This show responds to the tremendous influence that LGBT culture has on mainstream and pop culture and investigates how homosexuality is defined and expressed by the queer community today.

Homomuseum is an exhibition, video program, performance series and archive project. The visual art exhibition features interdisciplinary work by twenty-seven LGBT artists who created conceptual portraits of homosexual individuals that have influenced culture or works that are founded in a historical moment in gay history. In a five-week video program, feature length documentaries present unique aspects of contemporary gay life; from homeless transvestite prostitutes to racism confronting black gay men to same sex marriage (schedule of programs follows). Lesbian performance and music will complement the exhibition and fill Exit Art’s space for several nights in June. For the archive project, people from the LGBT community have submitted objects and mementos that are personally significant to them as a gay person, each piece includes a brief narrative or label about the chosen object. Archive objects include: a set of video tapes that document Ethyl Eichelberger’s celebrated drag performances, a compilation of early 20th century brothel photographs of young male prostitutes, a script from a play about the queer director Dorothy Arzner, a documentary by a woman recording her friend’s last days as he lies dying of AIDS, letters and newspaper clippings researching the persecution of gays and lesbians under Nazi occupation and much more.

Featuring: Christopher Arabadjis Alvin Baltrop James Bidgood ak burns Christopher Clary JP Forrest Leor Grady Stephanie Gray Michela Griffo Geoffrey Hendricks & Sur Rodney (Sur) Derek Jackson Aaron Krach Marget Long Gabriel Martinez James Morrison Rune Olsen Predrag Pajdic and Rachel Wilberforce Robert Ransick and Blake Goble Matthew Ravenstahl Milton Rosa-Ortiz Shane Ruth Mary Ellen Strom Jonathan Wahl Phillip Ward