tune in, pump up

 

Where will you be this afternoon at 4.30pm AEDT?

Hopefully, like us, you’ll be tuned to Channel 31 where Peril Board Member, multidisciplinary artist, producer and curator, Raina Peterson will be talking with the crew from RMITVs Offbeat.

Offbeat is a daily, youth-focused cultural program and we’re delighted to be talking to them today about all things Queer Here.

Not only is Raina’s artistic and political engagement as a curator a fascinating insight into contemporary Asian Australian arts practice but, depending on where the conversation leads us, we hope to have a chance to talk about some of the incredible artists that we will be featuring at the event – and also the underlying rational for why we might gather together.

In Plain Sanskrit featuring Govind Pillai and Raina Peterson. ​Photo: Hayden Golder Photography

As an online magazine, we spend much of our time connecting with people in the ether – so these people-to-people moment mean a lot to us. These are chances to celebrate the creatives who give so generously of themselves,  to build the interpersonal links that make a community what it really is.

So many of our definitions of community rest upon a commonality of place and time, a relatedness and a closeness that can be hard to maintain across dispersed technologies and locations. That’s not to say that the online community isn’t a vibrant one, indeed, it is one of the most energetic and dynamic places where folks connect. But there is nevertheless a certain remove, a place where my eyes staring at a screen, and your eyes staring at a screen are not quite the same as our eyes staring at each other. For communities that are traditionally marginalised from public spaces: trans*, queer, non-binary, non-conforming, “othered” or “otherwise” groups, the value of safe, public, communal space is even more poignant and powerful.

As we draw closer to making contact on 20 November at ArtPlay in Melbourne to recognise Transgender Remembrance Day and to celebrate the We’re Queer Edition, we hope you might take another few moments to share screen to eye time with us and tune in for Offbeat. 

Depending on your access mechanisms, you can tune into Channel 31 on the regular TV and we’ll anticipate your eyes across the ether!

 

Author: Eleanor Jackson

Eleanor Jackson is a Filipino Australian poet, performer, arts producer and community radio broadcaster. Eleanor Jackson is a former Editor in Chief and Poetry Editor of Peril and currently Chair of the Board.

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