9 November 23, 9 pm

In Danish, Turkish and Russian with English subtitles

Venue: Pogo Bar

Registration via pogobar@kw-berlin.de

Yaoi (bōizu rabu) is an evening centering the short films Letters from St. Petersburg (2021), Haus of Dragons (2019), and YAOI Copenhagen (2016) by Danish artist and filmmaker Lotte Nielsen.

In her filmic work, Nielsen explores the emotional worlds of queer youths under repressive regimes. Collectively with young members of LGBTQ+ organizations in i.e., St. Petersburg, Istanbul, New York, Berlin, and Copenhagen, Nielsen creates poetic narrative architectures in which their desires and aspirations can freely unfold alongside their losses and distress. Glazed in vibrant colors and wrought by a strong poetic language, the films create intimate, visual safe spaces that re-appropriate and re-callibrate the gaze controlled by the political and social structures under which the young people suffer.

In her return to the term yaoi (bōizu rabu), which is coined by Manga literature and means ‘love between boys portrayed by a female artist,’ Nielsen reflects her position amongst the groups as both the voyeur and initiate. Likewise, Nielsen’s works reflect the inherent liminal condition of the LGBTQ+ youth and their interchanging experiences of collectivity and loneliness, sassiness, and fragility.

Letters from St. Petersburg engage with young people of the LGBTQ+ organization Coming Out meeting at the collective Triglinki located in the central St. Petersburg. Haus of Dragons depicts members of the LGBTQ+ club of Bogazici University in Istanbul, while YAOI Copenhagen, the first film in the series, is a delicate portrayal of young people interacting with one another in an abandoned suburban Danish cinema, exploring their new friendships and their chosen sexuality with the old film house as an artistic backdrop. 

All prisms of the same sensual cosmos, the films will be shown consecutively and followed by a conversation between the artist and curator Sofie Krogh Christensen.