In 2025, The Queer Gaze continues to showcase queer literary voices such as Eli Levén, Hanna Johansson, Felicia Mulinari, Burcu Sahin, Priya Bains, Jude Dibia, and Nioosha Shams.
THE QUEER GAZE has been Kulturhuset Oceanen’s literary series since 2023.
The term “The Male Gaze” was coined by Laura Mulvey to describe the gaze that views women as objects for heterosexual male pleasure. As a response, “The Female Gaze” emerged, seeking to disrupt this dynamic and position women as observers. With the program series The Queer Gaze, Oceanen further develops these terms by highlighting how the queer gaze deconstructs all gender-based power dynamics, allowing authors to act as subjects and tell their own stories.
A big thanks to all curators, participants and audience members for spring season 2025! The Queer Gaze will be back in autumn, our first literary evening will take place in September. See details below for more information about all upcoming events.
11/9 – The Queer Gaze curated by: Felicia Mulinari
23/10 – The Queer Gaze curated by: Elina Pahnke
”The revolution will not be televised”, sings Gil Scott-Heron. Those wanting to put up resistance cannot sit and wait for while on the couch, they must take it to the streets. But what if the revolution was televised. What would be shown then? Author and journalist Elina Pahnke invites us to an imaginary TV-show, with the audience as TV viewers. Joining her are author, film maker and artist Michael Bekele and actor/screenwriter Mille Bostedt. Together they will create a revolutionary TV show where the dead can be brought back to life and dreams turn into reality.
14/11 – The Queer Gaze curated by: Marie Silkeberg
5/12 – The Queer Gaze curated by: Nioosha Shams
Coming Out, Rebinding
An evening of queer derailments, primeval bodies, and primal rage. We play with language, desire, and the body in an attempt to break out of narratives that no longer carry us, and to rebind what needs to be cared for and recreated.
What is it that we come out of? A closet, a constrictive narrative, a body? And what do we want to rebind, with new words, different movements, and queer gazes? Through conversation and poetry, we create a space where we can explore and simply be who we are—utterly fabulous queers.
Nioosha Shams is an author and poet who previously wrote “Om det regnar i Ahvaz“ (2020) and “Teshne” (2024). Her new poetry collection “Ur”, about decay, community, and the collapse of the world, will be published in July.
Acknowledgements:
The Queer Gaze 2025 is made possible with the support of the Swedish Arts Council, the Swedish Academy, and the City of Gothenburg.