HIV/AIDS in the context of a queer institution: The Schwules Museum,Berlin

Abstract

Discourse and memory around AIDS have often centred on White gay cis-men in Europe and North America. This is reflected in the way the history of the virus is often told and how the memory of the disease and the fight against it is created. While gay cis men have been among the most heavily affected by the virus, widespread narratives surrounding the epidemic often blur the complexity of the experiences of and histories created by the virus and have rightly been challenged. The Schwules Museum Berlin (Queer Museum Berlin) has increasingly reflected on its function as an arsenal as well as an archive and the connected role as a ‘memory maker’, trying to re-actualize its founding impetus as a subcultural ‘antimuseum’. Two recent exhibitions on HIV/AIDS at the museum attempted to provide a wider set of narratives and experiences beyond the already established one, diversifying the way HIV/AIDS history is told, thereby ‘queering’ a queer institution while exhibiting an inherently ‘queer’ topic. Using these two exhibitions as examples, this contribution is concerned with reflections from inside a queer cultural institution coming from the practical work of engaging with queer memory/ies.