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Art and Vulnerability. Brexit, Migration and Queer Diasporas
Presentation of works and projects by Katarzyna Perlak.

Katarzyna Perlak is a London-based Polish mixed media artist whose work incorporates photography, video, text and spatial practice. Her work considers how historical moments are archived, particularly in relation to women, migrants and queer histories. Her 2017 artwork, ‘Vulnarable’, is a recording of recorded 30 second exchanges between the artist and participants, who advise her how to pronounce the word “vulnerable” properly. As the artist explains: “The work reflects upon the relationship between language, power structures, social mobility and vulnerability.” This event follows 'The End of Gender' (18:00-20:00), and will involve a short screening of the artist's work, followed by a talk and discussion about the project, reflecting on the artistic representation of contemporary politics relating to Brexit, migration and queer identities.
Katarzyna Perlak is a mixed media artist, working with video, performance, sound, and sculptural forms.
Her background is in Philosophy, which she studied in Poland, and Fine Art Media that she has studied in UK. She is currently completing an MA in Fine Art Media at the Slade School of Fine Arts.
Katarzyna’s practice is socially focused. In particular she engages with intersectional narratives concerning women, migrant and queer histories. Currently she explores the potentiality of affect as a tool for registering and archiving current and past historical moments.
katarzynaperlak.com
inst: kat_perlak
See the PROGRAMME 
The presentation of Katarzyna's work is a continuation of the previous session called The End of Gender? at 6 pm, UCL Roberts Building 110, with the presentation of work by Maciej Duda and the project on the first Polish queer anthology by Błażej Warkocki. 
Picture
Katarzyna presents her work "Niolam Ja Se Kochaneczke" (2016). The project reclaims histories of queer love in Eastern European folk, while looking at the relationship between history, ‘national values’ and power structures. 
The video was selected for Stockholm Fringe Festival, Leeds Queer Film Festival, Berlin Feminist Film Festival and Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2017 and awarded Leeds Queer Film Festival Audience Choice Award.
To see the trailer of the project follow the link below:
Vimeo
Event were chaired by Dr Urszula Chowaniec, Senior Teaching Fellow in Polish Language and Culture and Dr Richard Mole, Senior Lecturer in Political Sociology. It is one of a series of seminars relating to Gender/Queer and Art/Lit/Film in the Other Europe, a research project based at UCL’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies.
The End of Gender?

Politics of Debates on Gender (Poland versus Western Europe). Discussion seminar.
Introduction to the End of Gender in Poland? by Urszula Chowaniec and Polish Queer Literature. Anthology. Presentation of the project by Błażej Warkocki
Chairing: Richard Mole

Unfortunately dr Maciej Duda, author of monograph on Polish War Against Gender (2016), could not come to the event: the presentation and talk on War on Gender in Poland by Maciej Duda is available, please send me an email: [email protected].  
Also, the presentation and short talk on a gender project Illustrating Gender (2017) by Gerard Coll i Planas is available on request. 
Gender, feminism and LGBT movements became established concepts in Poland following the fall of Communism, and the country’s integration into western Europe. But in summer 2013, a Polish church official declared that “the ideology of gender presents a threat worse than Nazism and Communism combined.” This statement and subsequent controversy were sparked by the introduction of ‘gender workshops’ in pro-equality nurseries and schools. A letter which stated that the concept of gender was “deeply destructive” to “the person, inter-human relations and all social life,” was issued by Polish bishops in December 2013.
This panel event considers the concept of gender, its identification with LGBTQ and queer studies, and contemporary homophobia. Speakers include Maciej Duda, author of Polish War Against Gender (2016), and Błażej Warkocki, one of Poland’s most influential queer theorists, will present the first attempts to create an anthology of contemporary queer literature.