Dear friends of the Bureau,
We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events (listed below) and during our regular hours: Tuesdays-Sundays, 1 to 7 PM.
Upcoming events at the Bureau:
Friday, September 28, 7 PM
Shinjuku Story: Exhibition and Book Signing
Please join Brooklyn based photographer, Kaz Senju, for his first solo show and book signing with his project Shinjuku Story, interviews and photography of Tokyo gay and lesbian bar owners.
The exhibition is on view at the Bureau from September 25-30, 1-7 pm.
Book signing special event on Friday, Sept 28th, 7 pm, hosted by Chris Bogia.
For more information about Kaz Senju, please visit his website: kazsenju.com
Chris Bogia is the Co-Founder and Director of Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR), the first LGBTQ artist residency in the world, located in Cherry Grove, on Fire Island, NY. A visual artist and instructor of sculpture at New York University, Bogia shares his personal work and describes the inspiration behind founding the Fire Island Artist Residency.
RSVP on Facebook (not required)
Saturday, September 29, 2 PM
The Legendary Mermaid Mysteries Book Release Party & Reading
Join us in celebrating new author, Bettylou Neill, as she launches her first novel, The Legendary Mermaid Mysteries Volume 1: Emma Pearl.
This is a kid-friendly event!
When Emma Pearl and her best friend, Mia, who have dreamt of being mermaids their entire lives, get an old book from a mysterious man with a top hat and patch, it leads them through a series of unimaginable events and they find themselves swept up in the current of a magical world under the sea! The two best friends discover themselves on a journey to save the Kingdom of Oceanna from destruction and unlock the mystery of its missing royal family. Dive in to the twisty, salty tail of two girls uncovering who they are, finding their true purpose and working together with others’ diverse purposes to help restore harmony to the sea and the island where they live.
Can Emma and Mia overcome the obstacles in front of them, find the eight Legendary Mermaids, and restore the missing royal family in order to save Oceanna?
Engage your Pearl Spirit and see what is in store. Meet the author, hear a reading and enjoy refreshments and activities befitting a young mermaid! This event will be fun for the whole family!
To reserve a copy of The Legendary Mermaid Mysteries Volume 1: Emma Pearl, please write to the Bureau at contact@bgsqd.com.
RSVP on Facebook (not required)
Sunday, September 30, 4 PM
BUFFALO TRACE: A Threefold Vibration
Book launch, reading and discussion with authors Mary Cappello, James Morrison, and Jean Walton
Set in 1980s Buffalo, three intricate, interrelated essays, meditate on the limits of expression, on the gender of ambition, on secrecy, eroticism, academic time, and snow. Combining the narrative-exegetical with the lyric-intellectual, they evoke the process of coming-into-queerness in a time and place not always conducive to it.
Suggested donation of $10 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.
To reserve a copy of Buffalo Trace, please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com. Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
“Smart, honest, and beautifully written, these three tales of grad school life in the 1980s could be called Love in the Time of Deconstruction. A hothouse world of brains, bodies, books, and doubt (in Buffalo, no less), it's all a bit mad, but in the exciting, necessary way of life in your twenties. Buffalo Trace is a strange, original, wonderful book.”
-Christopher Bram
"By following the tenderly intertwined intellectual and sexual awakenings of three friends, Buffalo Trace eroticizes academia…. This trilogy can also be read as an ode to Buffalo, the deeply American town that provided cover and even salvation for these three writers. Who can resist the assertion that 'Buffalo was itself a kind of Paris of the rust belt?' Ultimately, this is a love story, among friends, lovers, literature, and even Buffalo."
–Lucy Jane Bledsoe
RSVP on Facebook (not required)
Thursday, October 4, 6 PM
Print Edition Launch by Artist Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Join The Robert Giard Foundation on Thursday, October 4th, for the launch of a limited print edition by artist and Foundation board member Paul Mpagi Sepuya, to benefit the Robert Giard Foundation Fellowship Program for photographers and filmmakers.
The FREE event will include a raffle ($20/ticket) for one of the prints. Purchase raffle tickets in advance or in person at the event. Raffle to be drawn at 7:30 p.m. at the October 4th event.
Prints from the edition can be purchased for $1000 each at the event or online at
https://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?etid=10827
All proceeds go to support the future of the Robert Giard Foundation Fellowship for photographers and filmmakers.
Please join the Board of the Robert Giard Foundation and our host, the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, in room 210 of The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, from 6 – 8 p.m. for drinks and an introduction to the history and importance of Giard’s work, the exceptional Giard Fellowship, and the impact of the fellowship on the LGBTQ community.
Where:
Bureau of General Services-Queer Division
The Bureau is located in room 210 of
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
208 West 13th Street.
NY, NY 10011
When: 6 – 8:30 p.m, raffle at 7:30 pm.
Tickets:
1) Free RSVP
2) $20 tickets include one raffle for the benefit print, unlimited amount can be purchased per person.
For questions and information on purchasing an edition, email robertgiardfoundtion@gmail.com.
Title of work: Mirror Study, 2017, archival pigment print, 11 x 13 inches (paper size 19 x 21), Edition of 20 with 2 APs.
Friday, October 5, 7 PM
We Will Be Known Forever by the Tracks We Leave
A special evening celebrating the legacy of actor, director, producer, mentor, muse and original member of The Cockettes, Rumi Missabu.
Suggested donation of $10 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Rumi Missabu the subject of the new documentary RUMINATIONS has been in everything from Disney (Blackbeard's Ghost) to soft-core porn (Elevator Girls in Bondage).
RSVP on Facebook (not required)
Saturday, October 6, 6 PM
Physique Pictorial Volume 46 Release Party
Come celebrate the release of Physique Pictorial, photographer Bob Mizer’s art journal that fought censorship laws back in the day — and freed up the nude male physique throughout American culture.
The new Physique Pictorial relaunched last year and you can help us celebrate the release of the latest volume with The Bob Mizer Foundation and the Bureau of General Services-Queer Division.
Come and meet Physique Pictorial's spokesperson, Ross Collab, who is hosting the event in the incredible space that is the Bureau. Enjoy queer art, conversation, drinks, music, vintage Bob Mizer films, and even a chance to win a copy of the new Physique Pictorial V46!
Suggested donation of $10 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.
RSVP on Facebook (not required)
Thursday, October 11, 7 PM
Bespoke: Fall Fanfare Edition
BESPOKE: It’s ostentatious October! Join us for the resurrection of our most garish garments and frighteningly fashionable attire as Thursday, October 11 the Bureau features Sarah Schulman, Heather Lynn Johnson, and Yanyi at Bespoke, a bimonthly queer series where featured readers dress fun, fancy, or flirtatious, while supporting the Bureau and resisting fascism. This sinfully sartorial series presents fashionable femmes, dapper dykes, chic twinks, trendy trans* folk, & frothy FTMs. Featured writers are encouraged to suit up or dress down : readers’ choice.
Open mic readers (2 minutes each): whose name shall be drawn from the rainbow top hat this month? General attendees: which incredible edibles from Dylan's Candy Bar will find their way to the insatiate maws of our deviant demimonde?
Your hosts are the trio Christina "CQ" Quintana (writer/ playwright/ dyke about town), Tim Murphy (longtime LGBTQ journalist, activist and author of the novel Christodora), Jerome Ellison Murphy (poet, critic and NYU Creative Writing Program administrator) who invite you to turn out in your Thursday best (dressing up is welcome & encouraged, not mandatory) every other month for drinks and chat before & after our reading.
Suggested donation of $10 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.
RSVP on Facebook (not required)
Friday, October 12, 6 - 9 PM
Queer Zines / Queer Art Opening Reception
The NY Queer Zine Fair, Knowsgay, and the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division are proud to present QUEER ZINES / QUEER ART, an exhibition to accompany the 2018 NY QUEER ZINE FAIR.
The exhibition will be in three parts:
A HISTORY OF QUEER ZINES. In collaboration with QZAP – The Queer Zine Archive Project (www.qzap.org) we will showcase a timeline of queer zines (before Myspace).
QUEER ZINES / QUEER ART. An exhibition of selected work from NYQZF participants. Artists include: Aaron Krach, Anthony Cahudy, Anthony Malone, Chris Moody, Ian Lewandowski, JB Brager, Justin Corriveau, Keiff Jones, Love Case (Jason Haaf & Kyle Anderson), JP Anne Giera, Sam Rosenthal, Stephen McDowell, Steven Harwick, Voxigma Lo, and Will Yunshu Chen.
KNOWSGAY No7. A display of work from a new and special edition of KNOWSGAY. Limited edition of 30 and 75% of all sales will go to help cover the extra costs of putting on the NYQZF and the remaining 25% will benefit New Alternatives NYC (www.newalternativesnyc.org).
Public Opening Reception:
Friday 12 October 2018, 6-9 PM
Exhibition on view at the Bureau:
5 October 2018 – 5 January 2019
This event is free, but donations to support the Bureau’s work are much appreciated!
The exhibition will be in the Bureau of General Services-Queer Division (Room 210 of The LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th St., NYC 10011)
image credit: Keiff Jones “T.O.N.Y Tiger” 2018
RSVP on Facebook (not required)
Saturday, October 13, 12 to 7 PM
Sunday, October 14, 12 to 7 PM
2018 New York Queer Zine Fair
New York Queer Zine Fair is excited to present the fourth edition of The New York Queer Zine Fair, October 12-14. This year's event will bring more than 55 queer artists, zine makers. collectives and publishers from around the world to present and sell their current work.
The LGBT Community Center / Room 101 and Bureau of General Services—Queer Division (Room 210)
208 West 13 Street (between 7th Ave and Greenwich Ave)
Subways: A, C, E, L, 1, 2 and F.
FRIDAY 12 OCTOBER / 6pm - 9pm / Opening party for Queer Zines / Queer Art and reception (see above for details).
Bureau of General Services-Queer Division (NYC LGBT Center / Room 210)
SATURDAY 13 OCTOBER / 12pm - 7pm / NYQZF Fair / Room 101
SUNDAY 14 OCTOBER / 12pm - 7pm / NYQZF Fair / Room 101
There will be a few different exhibitors on Saturday and Sunday, so be sure to check out both days.
Additionally we will have programming taking place in the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division (room 210) during fair hours:
Programming in the Bureau (more information below):
Saturday, 13 October
12:30 - 2:30 / Queer Collage Party
3:30 - 4:30 / Kelli Dunham: Laughter is a Revolutionary Gesture: Humor as Self-Care
5:00 - 6:00 / Straight To Hell slideshow illustrating the 45 years of S.T.H. followed by a panel discussion
Sunday, 14 October
1:00 - 3:00 / Karl Marks Children's Hour Puppet Workshop
4:30 - 5:30 / Belladonna* readings by Anaïs Duplan and Yumi Dineen Shiroma
www.nyqzf.com
Instagram.com/nyqzf
Free admission.
Wheelchair accessible.
We look forward to seeing you there!
______________________________________
2018 NYQZF PARTICIPANTS
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
3 dot zine / www.3dotzine.com / Brooklyn, NY
Aaron Krach / www.aaronkrach.com / New York, NY
Anand Vedawala / www.anandvedawala.com / Oakland, CA.
Anthony Cudahy + Ian Lewandowski / www.anthonycudahy.com + www.ianlewandowski.com / Brooklyn, NY
Anxiety Dreams / www.anxiety-dreams.com / Brooklyn, NY
B&D Press / www.banddpress.blogspot.com / Montreal, QC
Belladonna Series / www.belladonnaseries.org / Brooklyn, NY
Beth Comics / www.Bethcomics.com / Austin, TX
Bob Civil / www.bobcivil.com / Brooklyn, NY
Bound Leather Zine / www.boundleatherzine.com / Brooklyn, NY
Brusque Babe / www.BrusqueBabe.com / Williamsport, PA
Caroline Palmer / www.instagram.com/grumpyfemmme / Northampton, MA
Daily Life Storage / www.dailylifestorage.com / Philadelphia, PA
Davidmodel / www.Davidmodel.com + www.instagram.com/davidmodel_ / Jersey City, NJ
Devyn Farries / www.thisnumberisinvalid.tumblr.com / Queens Village, NY
Doable Guys / www.doableguys.com / Brooklyn, NY
GenderFail / www.Genderfail.space / Brooklyn, NY
hamiltonsix / Brooklyn, NY
HOMOCATS / www.homocats.com / Brooklyn, NY
horse gurl press / www.cargocollective.com/chrismoody / Garibaldi, OR
Jessie and Elle Zines / www.everymountaingoatssongisgay.weebly.com / Staten Island, NY
John Jennison / www.johnjennison.wixsite.com/illustration / Brooklyn, NY
Kaylee Rowena / www.kayleerowena.com / Brooklyn, NY
Keiff Jones / www.keiffjones.com + www.instagram.com/keiffjones / Brooklyn, NY
Kelli Dunham / www.kellidunham.com / Brooklyn, NY
Khari Johnson-Ricks / www.behance.net/KhariJohnsonRicks / Jersey City, NJ
Le Gros Monsieur / www.legrosmonsieur.fr / Paris, FR
Matthew R.F. Balousek / www.mrfb.itch.io / Santa Cruz, CA
Milkweed Zine / www.milkweedzine.com + www.instagram.com/milkweedzine / Toronto, ON
Nun Comix / www.etsy.com/shop/NunComix / Falls Church, VA
Olivia M. • Paradox Creations / www.etsy.com/shop/ParadoxNowCreations+ www.patreon.com/oliviaszines / Canaan, CT
Pink Mince / www.pinkmince.com / New York, NY
Polari Press / www.alecstevens.co.uk / Bristol, UK
Sam Rosenthal / www.samrosenthal.net / Brooklyn, NY
Ser Brunetto / www.serbrunetto.tumblr.com / New York, NY
Spicy Mango Comics / www.instagram.com/spicymangocomics / Yonkers, NY
STRAIGHT TO HELL Editions / www.Straight-To-Hell.com / New York, NY
The Arts & Craps Studio / www.jpajg.com
Voxigma Lo / www.instagram.com/voxigma.lo / Staten Island, NY
Zineralia / www.anhelo-escalante.me / Brooklyn, NY
SATURDAY ONLY
Barnard Zine Club / twitter.com/barnardzineclub / New York, NY
Jason Haaf / Love Case / www.lovecase.bigcartel.com / Brooklyn, NY
JB Brager / www.instagram.com/jbbrager / Brooklyn, NY
No More Mermaids / www.tapas.io/series/No-More-Mermaids / Philadelphia, PA
Queer Sailors Zines / www.hellotheresailor.etsy.com /Brooklyn, NY
Secondhand Emotion / www.secondhandemozine.tumblr.com / New York, NY
Sula Collective / www.sulacollective.com / Staten Island, NY
Three Fifty / www.threefiftycollective.tumblr.com / Brooklyn, NY
Willchenwillbe / www.instagram.com/willchenwillbe / Elmhurst, NY
SUNDAY ONLY
A Tender Witch / www.LiahPaterson.com / Astoria, NY
Alanis Alvarez/ Reinas: Latinxs on TV / www.heygorda.wordpress.com / Uniondale, NY
Christopher Clary / www.christopherclary.com / Allenhurst, NJ
Gara Lonning/Bunt Cake / www.instagram.com/buntcakezine / Brooklyn, NY
Grace Allison Perkins / www.gperki.com / Haverstraw, NY
Molly Liu / www.mozliu.bigcartel.com / Brooklyn, NY
Vănguard / www.vanguardzine.com
NYQZF Programming in the Bureau (room 210 of The Center)
The New York Queer Zine Fair will take place in room 101 of The Center. The programming will take place in the Bureau, room 210 of The Center.
SATURDAY 12:30 - 2:30 / Queer Collage Party
Information to come.
SATURDAY 3:30 - 4:30 / Kelli Dunham: Laughter is a Revolutionary Gesture: Humor as Self-Care
The nature of our work as intersectional activists and life as queer folks is intense and that, combined with passion, can sometimes contribute to depression and burnout as well as a single focus on movement work/our passion that is neither healthy for us as individuals nor effective. Yet there is a notable historical precedent for intersectional activism using humor as both a strategy in communication and a tool for personal empowerment. This workshop explores how we can reclaim humor and use it to relieve stress, communicate better, subvert the rigid gender binary and build resilience. You don't have to consider yourself "a funny person" to participate in this workshop. It's about discovering our own unique sense of humor. We'll have fun and NO ONE will make you wear a clown nose, promise.
SATURDAY 5:00 - 6:00 / Straight To Hell slideshow illustrating the 45 years of S.T.H. followed by a panel discussion
In 1973, Boyd McDonald virtually invented queer zine culture with Straight to Hell, the no-holds-barred circle jerk of reader-written true tales of men’s real sexual adventures in-- as Bernard Welt puts it in “One Man’s Meat” - “the unacknowledged corners of life where repression is not lifted, but exploded to bits . . . In the world of STH, every barracks shower is an orgy room; every Boy Scout jamboree is a festival of sexual initiation; every conservative politician and clergyman pays male hustlers for sex. Everything men do to bond or compete in sports, war, and politics is a sublimation of, if not a substitute for, homosexual desire.” Gore Vidal, Allen Ginsberg, Tennessee Williams, and Christopher Isherwood all proclaimed themselves fans and admirers.
McDonald proposed that pornography usually promotes mainstream ideology that stigmatizes gay sex even as it charges admission for it—while the publication of the truth of sexual life liberates desire from the pressure to justify, excuse, or normalize.
Billy Miller, STH’s editor since 1989, joins critic Bernard Welt, storyteller extraordinaire Grady Turner, and Kevin Allison, creator of the ground-breaking RISK!Podcast, for a discussion of how sharing the truth of our lives really does set us free.
Kevin Allison is the author of RISK! True Stories People Never Thought They'd Dare To Share (Hachette, 2018), based on the wildly popular podcast.
Grady Turner is an arts writer, inaugural curator of the Museum of Sex, and Moth-winning storyteller who produced Bare! True Stories of Sex, Desire and Romance.
Bernard Welt is the author of Mythomania: Fantasies, Fables, and Sheer Lies in Contemporary American Popular Art. Billy Miller is an artist and independent curator, and the editor of Straight to Hell.
SUNDAY 1:00 - 3:00 / Karl Marks Children's Hour Puppet Workshop
Karl Marks Children's Hour is a traveling puppet show and crafting workshop featuring two dimensional paper puppets of famous and infamous historical and public figures. Attendees of the workshop will conceive and execute a puppet design using construction paper, scissors, paper lunch sacks and glue. Step-by-step written instructions will be provided to each participant and assistance and general instruction will be available from the workshop leader, artist, and performer, Karl Marks. The suggested theme for puppets in this workshop is "Figures in Queer History" but other subjects will be welcomed and encouraged. Attendees should bring their own pair of scissors. Glue and paper will be provided.
Karl Marks is a Brooklyn-based queer artist and performer. He has performed throughout New York City, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland at a range of performance venues and museums
SUNDAY 4:30 - 5:30 / Belladonna* readings by Anaïs Duplan and Yumi Dineen Shiroma
Belladonna* presents the work of two exciting and boundary-pushing poets as part of our ongoing reading series And / With, now nearing its 20th anniversary year. As with every Belladonna* reading, chaplets of the work presented will be published to coincide with its presentation, and will be available for sale from our table at the Queer Zine Fair, along with many other delicious Belladonna* titles.
Belladonna* is a feminist avant-garde collective, founded in 1999 by Rachel Levitsky. Our mission to promote the work of writers who are adventurous, experimental, politically involved, multi-form, multicultural, multi-gendered, impossible to define, delicious to talk about, unpredictable and dangerous with language. Belladonna* has featured nearly 300 writers of wildly diverse age and origin, writers who work in conversation and collaboration, in and between multiple forms, languages, and critical fields.
***
The Bureau recommends:
September 5 – October 21, 2018
Conduition, Liz Collins
LMAKGallery
LMAKgallery is pleased to present Conduition, the first solo exhibition by Liz Collins (whose exhibition Cast of Characters is currently on view at the Bureau--see below), at the gallery. The exhibition is an iteration of Collins’ dynamic visual language, one in which she explores new materials, hybridizes design with sculptural objects, and experiments with scale.
Collins found it essential to title the show Conduition – a result of combining the word ‘conduit’ with ‘intuition’ and ‘condition’, also in reference to Dr. Daniel Siegel’s essay The Personal Self is a Construction: Understanding Energy Flow and How We Construct Information. In this article, Siegel states that ‘conduition’ is simply the state of being a conduit, which resonated with her ideas. Collins sees conduits as objects and beings that carry things through them, such as energy, current, liquid, electricity, emotions, and more.
In her work, Collins intersects art and design, utilizing different scales that often culminate in large immersive environments. Through Collins’ use of texture, material, and stimulating color, she generates evocative flows, fields, and vibrations. Each work represents a form of duality: chaos/order, pain/pleasure, light/dark, tension/release, open/closed- core concepts in Collins’ aesthetics.
In this exhibition, Collins shifts away from environments, focusing on the individual artworks. Although she thinks about individual pieces in the context of the others in the space, each work is meant to have its own identity. The essence of the exhibit is about the movement of energy. Electric currents, interconnectivity and energy exchange are represented by Collins’ stitched paintings, jacquard woven, knit, and embellished textiles, and needlepoint drawings.
LMAK Gallery
298 Grand Street (between Allen and Eldridge)
New York, NY 10002
September 5 – October 21, 2018
Gallery hours:
Wednesday through Sunday from 11 am – 6pm and by appointment.
For an appointment, contact the gallery at info(a)lmakgallery.com or call 212 255 9707.
For additional information about the exhibition please do not hesitate to contact bart@lmakgallery.com or 212 255 9707.
***
Please support the Bureau! Thanks to your support we celebrated our 5th birthday in November 2017! Please continue to support the Bureau so that we are able to serve you for years to come. Thank you!
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Why donate to the Bureau?
The Bureau is a vital, unique queer space in New York City. Visitors find themselves surrounded by LGBTQ books and publications by and about our community, whether they are new or treasured classics, well-known or obscure and difficult to find. From Audre Lorde and James Baldwin to Michelle Tea and Brontez Purnell, from the latest books on transgender youth and intersex activism to contemporary gay manga and fantastical polygender coloring books, visitors encounter an array of LGBTQ books and publications that they will not find anywhere else. With new work that we receive directly from zine makers and small independent presses, visitors always discover new friends.
The Bureau hosts over 200 events every year, many of which would not otherwise find a venue. These are both community-driven events such as book-discussion groups, activist strategizing meetings, and writing workshops, as well as book launches by both well-known and emerging authors and poets. Additionally, the Bureau hosts at least 5 exhibitions yearly: both solo and group exhibitions of art works as well as activist materials. The Bureau has collaborated with organizations such as Visual AIDS and Fire Island Artist Residency, as well as with veterans of The Lesbian Avengers activist group and activists fighting police violence against people of color to bring you provocative and inspiring exhibitions year round.
At 5 years and counting, we want to improve and enhance the experience of visiting the Bureau and attending our events and exhibitions. The Bureau needs new, sturdier bookshelves, new audio-visual equipment, cushioned seating, and office equipment that will facilitate our work for the community. The members of our community who share their work in our space and our guests deserve a high-functioning and comfortable venue.
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We continue to add new events, so please check our events page on our website for the most up-to-date information. We always welcome your suggestions, recommendations, and proposals. Thank you for your support!
love,
