New forms of kinship
We live in disturbing times when progress and regression happen simultaneously, when chaos in its multilayered dimensions could not be any more confusing, and we seek community, benevolence and openness as a refuge and a future.
S_P_I_T_ sees itself not only as a festival but as a temporary community – a platform that enables resistant bodies and transformative encounters. In performances, workshops and artist talks, we endeavour to create a space where care, desire and cohesion are radically negotiated – a space of making-visible, of resistance and reinvention. In a world where queer bodies, (hi)stories and expressions are still marginalised, attacked or appropriated, we aim to offer a place of togetherness and self-determination in various practices of the performance arts.
For us, a festival is not just a stage or a place of visibility – it is above all an opportunity to meet, connect and experience things together.
The immersive installation associated with the Lazy Life (2017–2023)[1] is our way of proposing to conceive of laziness as a resistant practice. Durational Timeout is our daily invitation to the Performance Passage to enjoy little culinary delights; it’s the central hub of rest, idleness and collective relaxation.
In 2025, we focus on Donna Haraway’s call to create new forms of kinship and solidarity – beyond traditional family structures and biological assignments. We explore alternative models of social organisation and ponder the question of how we can find new ways of becoming allies, “making kin” and taking joint response-ability.
The performance Contaminare or To Touch Together by Denise Kottlett, Crystal Wall and Francesca Centonze does not offer clear-cut solutions but opens up a sensuous, speculative terrain to explore alternative models of coexistence – microscopic, poetic, deeply connected. We find ourselves in a dense underground world – in a network of microorganisms living in symbiotic coexistence, beyond human logics of exploitation and linear evolutionary narratives. At its heart lies a radical re-evaluation of the term contamination: not as a threat but as a way of relating to each other. Contaminare or To Touch Together ideates touch as a collective process from which new forms of affinity emerge – far beyond human norms.
Luara Raio’s work is rooted in a queer, racialised and anti-colonial perspective that aims to activate invocations and rifts in hegemonic representations of gender, race and body. Her artistic practice is characterised by an in-depth examination of the spiritual, political and somatic dimensions of identity. They use performance as a means of enchantment and disruption, as an act of remembrance and re-composition.
We regret to inform our audience that Kat Bailed, whose work and presence were a substantial part of S_P_I_T_ 2025, has passed away unexpectedly. Kat’s artistic work remains an important point of reference for us – a trace of queer resistance, care and aesthetic radicalism. Bailed focused on disabled autonomy, joy, fear and connection in their work. They challenged ableism as a ubiquitous system of control – a panopticon imposing itself on our perception. Will we ever be able to escape it? There is no clear-cut answer to this question, but their work whispers a hopeful: “yes”.
As a tribute to Bailed’s work, we show Spectator On Your Self, a dance film tackling these subjects. Originally, the film screening was to be accompanied by a live performance by Kat – an invitation to reflect on the queercrip experience and recognise the possibility of deep affinity and kinship in isolation. We are grateful to be able to continue to let Bailed’s voice speak – not as an afterthought but as a living connection to an artistic practice that inspires, challenges and accompanies us.
S_P_I_T_ is a place of speculation, utopia and direct action, where we experiment with alternative futures and intend to activate collective imaginations, give a stage to queer future outlooks, think beyond bodies, i.e. connect digital, posthuman and speculative embodiments.
Lost Encounters, They Cling by Valentino Skarwan unfolds as a series of encounters where human and non-human worlds merge. The performance spins speculative narratives, myths shaped by Guatemalan syncretism and fleeting traces of resistant figures such as Ixoq Muy. It’s about making room for what dissolves and holding on to what remains – be it visible or invisible.
Like Kat Bailed, Iris Omari Ansong and Isabelle Edi negotiate “glitches” as a strategy of resistance in choreographic works: sliding, slipping, defying categorisation – a body that cannot be defined, that constantly re-forms itself in unpredictable movements. It is an aesthetic that not only acknowledges the precarious but understands it as a place of renewal and radical affinity. By weaving together their practices of dance, sound, costume and performance, the duo interrogates the in-between, the hidden, the invisible. Between surfaces and the darkest depths of the oceans, they search for the aesthetics of Afro-diasporic memories. As they immerse themselves in new images, in layers of hope and grief, the Black Atlantic approaches: an invisible yet omnipresent network of routes and cultural heritage of the African memory community.
“Our task is to make trouble, to stir up potent response to devastating events, as well as to settle troubled waters and rebuild quiet places.”[2] This is our guiding principle: we need visions, ideas but also the courage to reduce privileges and share resources fairly.
In Bora’s multidimensional universe, fantasy turns into activism. A mirror of the – material and/or immaterial – present that provides an opportunity for reflection including the desire to create spaces for queer representations. Bora invites us and our spirits to a grand party. Together we embark on an immersive and intimate journey where we admire and conjure up the figure of the monster. Monsters are not just creepy, evil or larger than life – they challenge the boundaries set for us by society, they question beauty ideals and the rigid dictates of our society.
With this in mind, S_P_I_T_ places the focus not only on people but on life in all its diversity – with its relationships, dependencies and more-than-human interconnections. The emphasis is on thinking and feeling in ways that make the boundaries between species, bodies and worlds permeable and enable new forms of solidarity. By ridding ourselves of anthropocentric perspectives, we open up spaces for stories, practices and voices that are all too often overlooked or ignored – and seek to conceive of other ways of living together.
[1] Lazy Life was a collectively organised, non-consumer space for queer-feminist art and culture as well as self-chosen forms of representation, trying out different modes and articulations of collaboration.
[2] Donna Haraway, Staying with the Trouble. Making Kin in the Chthulucene, Durham 2016.
Denise Kottlett (she/they) lives and works in Vienna. Kottlett studied fine arts (HBK Saarbrücken, Germany) and contextual painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Ashley Hans Scheirl. She performs as a solo artist as well as in groups and collectives, in film and theatre productions, and organises events such as the Anti Valentines* Ball, STUDIO KOTTLETT and S_P_I_T_ Queer Performance Festival Vienna. Her works examine body politics, feminist historiographies, survival and its effects on one’s own physicality and well-being. In addition to her artistic work, she is the make-up artist for Jakob Lena Knebl, Katrina Daschner, House Of The Very Islands and MOB Industries, among others. She has also been working as a cosmetician and a foot care specialist since 2023.
Lisa Holzinger (she/they) lives and works in Vienna. Her professional career has revolved around curation, conception and events since 2013. Over the years, Lisa has worked as a senior creative and event consultant in renowned Viennese agencies. As a creative producer, she draws on knowledge from various disciplines. Lisa has headed the non-profit organisation SISTERS+ since 2015 and is currently co-director of the legendary Hyperreality Festival for Club Culture and S_P_I_T_ Queer Performance Festival Vienna.