Book cover for Cruising Pavilion: Architecture, Dissident Sex and Cruising Cultures by Samuel R Delany, Hal Fischer, Rosie Hastings, Studio Karhard, Joan Nestle, Henrik Olesen, Hannah Quinlan, Gayle S Rubin, Diller Scofidio and Renfro, David Wojnarowicz and Robert Yang
2026 Released
432 Pages
7-10 Hours
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Spector BooksISBN 9783959057455

A fascinating, global look at the mutual conditioning between gay cruising subcultures and the built environments in which they function

This volume investigates the influence of cruising cultures on the fields of architecture and urbanism by constructing a typology of the different spaces produced by sexual subcultures, mainly those of gay men. From appropriated spaces such parks, public toilets and streets to dedicated spaces such as sex clubs, bars, bathhouses and geosocial dating apps, cruising has subverted the libidinal cartography and uses of the modern metropolis. A series of case studies on specific cruising hotspots around the world--from the men's bathrooms in New York's Central Park to the island of Lesbos, Greece, to the Peace Memorial Park in Taipei, Taiwan--is complemented by photographs, city planning maps and essays on related topics such as the ethics of glory holes.
This exciting book looks at these spatial practices through the lens of the artistic avant-gardes that evolved on the edge of sex, art and architecture. This book follows the eponymous curatorial project initiated by Pierre-Alexandre Mateos, Rasmus Myrup, Octave Perrault and Charles Teyssou, which traveled from Venice to Paris, New York, Fire Island and Stockholm.

David Wojnarowicz

David Wojnarowicz was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 1954, and first gained notice in New York’s East Village art scene in the 1970s. He rose to fame for his exceptional range, intelligence, and passion, and by the 1980s had become one of the most provocative artists of his generation. In the years before his death in 1992 from AIDS-related complications, he worked tirelessly as an AIDS activist and anticensorship advocate.  In 1985, Wojnarowicz brought his fight for freedom of expression to the case of David Wojnarowicz v. American Family Association, in which Donald E. Wildmon claimed that Wojnarowicz’s work was pornographic and undermined family values. Wojnarowicz won and was awarded a symbolic dollar. He was thrust back into the spotlight in 2010, at the center of a censorship battle over the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture. In 2012, Cynthia Carr published the critically acclaimed biography Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz.

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