On May 13, 2025, as Brussels begins to hum with Pride energy, a quieter, deeper kind of gathering unfolds at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (ArBA-EsA). In room M307, Spanish queer feminist activist and scholar Fefa Vila joins Brussels-based artist and educator Castillo for a conversation titled Chance — a public dialogue exploring how we transmit our histories, question power, and embrace what doesn’t fit.
“I want to tell you about a political experience that claims ‘chance’ against the norm,” Vila begins, rejecting the structures that define academia, activism, even queer identity. A founding force of the radical lesbian collective LSD in 1990s Madrid, Vila’s work defies containment. For her, queerness is not only a lived experience but also a methodology — unruly, opaque, and necessary.
Castillo, whose artistic and pedagogical work in Brussels engages with queer health, collective memory, and experimental forms, expands on this with equal nuance. Together, they probe the space between archives and “anarchives” — the messier, forgotten, unrecorded narratives that still shape our lives. Their conversation is not about preserving history but about unearthing it, destabilizing it, and reimagining it.
“How can we (un)govern what isn’t governable?” Vila asks — a question that lingers. As LGBTQIA+ communities move forward, they remind us that not all stories need linearity, or legibility, to be powerful.
In the lead-up to Brussels Pride and IDAHOTB (International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia), this encounter is a powerful counterpoint to the more visible expressions of queer celebration. It’s a call to listen, reflect, and embrace the unknown.
Because sometimes the most radical act is not to define, but to question.
Date: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Time: 17:30 – 20:00
Location: Royal Academy of Fine Arts (ArBA-EsA), Room M307
Rue du Midi 144, 1000 Brussels
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