Glamcult’s Emma van Meyeren in conversation with artist, performer, DJ, writer and nightlife icon Juliana Huxtable, at Rewire 2018.
On 19 March, NYC-based artist Juliana Huxtable shared Andrea Long Chu’s essay “On Liking Women” on Twitter. Written in her unmistakable style, the tweet read “@theorygurl JUST BROKE ME OPEN … ONE OF THE BEST ESSAYS IVE READ PROBABLY EVER … A MUST FOR ANYONE, BUT ESPECIALLY THOSE INTERESTED IN CONVERSATIONS REGARDING FEMINISM, TRANSNESS, DESIRE & IDENTITY (WHATEVER THAT MEANS BUT U MUST MUST READ)”. Two weeks later Huxtable presented her performance Triptych at Rewire Festival in The Hague, and spoke with me about her work. In preparation, I read Chu’s essay, and it haunted me. All the many projects Huxtable works on and the themes she addresses somehow come together in this one text that, surprisingly, is neither about her work nor written by her.
When I say “many projects”, I really do mean many projects. In 2017, Huxtable published not one but two books: a volume of her ALL CAPS poetry titled Mucus in My Pineal Gland and another story, co-written with her partner Hannah Black, called Life: A Novel. Her performances have been staged around the world and in the most prestigious art centres of her adopted hometown, including the Museum of Modern Art and the New Museum. But most of us probably know her from the space where great art often finds its origins: New York City’s Queer Nightlife. As a DJ, she’s played everywhere from Boiler Room to Berghain, and probably all of your favourite Brooklyn spots from Bossa Nova to Trans Pecos. On top of that she hosts her own party, Shock Value, where she invites artists such as Le1f, Princess Nokia, Bunny Michael and Lafawndah. As anyone in this network will tell you, Juliana Huxtable pushes an intellectual, artistic and musical culture that has a huge influence on the worldwide queer community.
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