Liminalities 2026

LIMINALITIES, founded in 2025 as an international, interdisciplinary arts festival and platform for trans* visibility, now marks its first anniversary – after a dark year. Amid a global rightward shift and rising autocracies, nationalism, white pride, and patriarchy are resurging, along with the myth of a “natural order”; ideological rigidity has become political method. Critical art creates spaces where the world can be experienced as changeable. Trans* people embody this changeability – and are therefore targeted by authoritarian forces. Their existence exceeds the gender binary and exposes every so-called “natural order” as constructed, unsettling autocratic ideologies. In the U.S., trans* lives are being pushed out of public space, archives, and healthcare, with Project 2025 framing them as a “national security threat.” In the UK, TERF politics normalize forced outing and violence through bathroom debates. In Germany, attacks on the Self-Determination Act, campaigns against gender-inclusive language, and calls for trans* registries – in light of German history (“pink lists”) – must be read as democratic warning signs.

LIMINALITIES declares the protection of queer rights and trans* visibility a democratic responsibility and welcomes audiences to a curated program of international performance, theatre, and visual art on trans* life in past, present, and possible futures. Artists include Simone Aughterlony (Zurich), Ocean Stefan (Margate), Emma Frankland (Birmingham), and Cassils (NYC). Ecstatic club nights return with the all-trans* music festival TRANSTRONICA, curated by Saeleen Bouvar. Under LIMINALITIES ALLIES, Beth Stephens & Annie Sprinkle present their new fi lm PLAYING WITH FIRE – AN ECOSEXUAL EMERGENCY in person.