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cruising

‘Cruising’, an informal term to describe casual sexual encounters in public space, most common amongst homosexual men. Deriving from the dutch ‘kruisen’, meaning to ‘cross’ or ‘intersect’, cruising means ‘to travel around a place slowly, typically in search of something’.

“…cruising remains at once a reclamation of public space and the creation of its own unique locale- one in which men of all races and classes interact, even in the shadow of repressive governments.”.

-Alex Espinoza

Cruising grounds create a refuge. They provide momentary relief from heteropatriarchal social structures- Espinoza likens the activity to the “breaking of a seal…”. They teach us how to decipher coded behaviour and language; of how to see and be seen. They convene a culture and a community.

Cruising, in its simplest form, is to practice in the outside, rebuking the political and cultural forces of the ‘in’.

Ceramic, Glaze, Copper Oxide, Concrete, Steel, Plastic, 3D Printed Plastic, Light Fixture

2022

shown as part of ‘Cruising, discomfort as a tool to depatriarchise design’ at Huidenclub Rotterdam