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QACE Talk 4: a retrospective by Madonna Lennaert & Joppe De Campeneere
The applause fades, the lights come on. We are still on stage, chatting with our panel guests, a glass of red wine in hand. Meanwhile, people are finding their coats, each other, and the exit. A charged energy lingers in the room. We recognize them, feel her gratitude rushing through our bodies. It is a dynamic that arises when queer people can collectively envision a world that transcends the individual and norms.
More than a few spots, four beautiful chairs, and just as many microphones were not needed to transform the stage of Antigone into the set of a talk show. We felt like Ellen De Genderless and Gender Verhulst, for at least one evening your hosts of a possible future. We went on speed dates like schoolgirls and welcomed our guests on stage with open arms and full glasses. The sincere and fragile conversations with Hausvrau and Oumaima were interspersed with artistic interventions that left no one untouched.
What a blessing that we were able to search for a shared story with them, filled with authenticity and solidarity. What a gift that artists like Zaydan and Nazanin let the sounds of our revolution resonate: vulnerable, lived, raw, full of longing. What an opportunity to watch Valenciaga, Zina Geire, and Akara Dixit remind us of the power of transformation.
Let QACE be the proof: it is healing to collectively build a society with less rigid lines, with more room for what is crooked or undefined. It started tonight in the theater hall, but it doesn't have to end there. It is already worth dreaming together of a more just society, but we must not stop there. Dream, talk, listen, create, organize, sacrifice, demand. Essentially, it comes down to what Hausvrau so aptly said at the end of our conversation: find something, no matter how small, that makes your heart swell and fight for it.
