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 en “anarchives” — the messier, forgotten, unrecorded narratives that still shape our lives. Their conversation is not about preserving history but about unearthing it, destabilizing iten 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 Trots op Brussel en 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.
Datum: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Tijd: 17:30 – 20:00
Locatie: Royal Academy of Fine Arts (ArBA-EsA), Room M307
Rue du Midi 144, 1000 Brussels
You may also like
-
Queer feet, green beats: Paradise City gets your summer moving (softly)
From 26 to 28 June, Paradise City returns to Kasteel de Ribaucourt in Perk with
-
Queer Paris in Your Pocket: A New Guide to the City’s LGBTQIA+ Memory and Momentum
Released on 4 June by First, Queer Paris is a new pocket guide that maps out the French capital through
-
Let Your Heart Be Heard: The Queer Finale Brussels Has Been Warming Up For
After months of rehearsals, teasers and city‑wide build‑up, Various Voices Brussels 2026 is heading towards its big
-
One Last Warm-Up: Brussels Still Has Time to Join the Biggest LGBTQI+ Choir at ING Arena
Brussels has already been singing queer for weeks, and now one of the most open
-
Dress to Bury the Old World: A Queer Funeral for Dictators at AB
On Friday 5 June, Ancienne Belgique turns into a political dancefloor with “DICTATOR’S FUNERAL”, a
Nederlands (België) 
English 
Français de Belgique