Invitation to the Defense of Hyo Lee

The Examination Panel is made up of: Moira Hille (chair), Anette Baldauf and  Renate Lorenz (supervisors), and (Jack Halberstam, external appraiser).

Abstract

Let us daydream together, like going on a collective day trip. What could then linger out of our daydream into the realm of reality, like a souvenir of some sort? Prompted by this daydreamy question, this thesis investigates the potentiality of daydreaming as a political and collective practice for queer people of color who navigate and negotiate the violence of racism and queerphobia in everyday reality, whom I fondly refer to as queer strangers. The investigation is carried out by exploring the following notions: daydreaming as a rehearsal room for political imagination; theatre-making through collective daydreaming; worldmaking in relation to daydreaming; my daydream place called Noir, while working closely with the concepts of José Esteban Muñoz such as queerness and cruising. My thesis proposes daydreaming as a magical mode of thinking that can support queer strangers to explore different and nourishing ways of being in the world and to worldmake in the abundance of desire and hope that can lead to political transformation.

Short biography

Hyo Lee is an artist from Seoul, South Korea currently based in Vienna, Austria. They studied Photography at the University of Applied Art and Video and Video installation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Since 2019, their artistic practice has focused on theatre performance. Their work is often collaborative and derives from their life experiences as a queer person of color.

The thesis defense will be in English and will take place at the Academy at Schillerplatz, Turm 2, room DG06.

We are looking forward to welcoming you.