Our homepage of KUNSTWERK BILDER now shows images and texts that will not please everyone. Images that are controversial. Texts that provoke. This is not accidental, but intentional.
For us, art is more than decoration. Art must ask questions, challenge norms, break taboos. Art must be political – especially when it addresses topics that are not uncontroversial even within the queer community. This is what it says on the homepage of KUNSTWERK BILDER:
L'ART POUR L'ART IS NOT ENOUGH. ART IS POLITICAL
L'art pour l'art is art for art's sake. In a modern society this is not enough. Art must move us forward, overcome old norms, shape the present and future. For that, art must always be controversial. For us this means addressing topics with our artworks that are not uncontroversial in the gay and queer community. Gay sex in public toilets is not everyone's thing, probably not even mainstream in the gay community. For a long time, however, it was a breath of freedom, one of the rare opportunities for gay men to live their human right to sexuality, albeit at the time under the verdict of persecution. Not only, but also for that reason we make it a subject. Because it is a fact. And art must never close its eyes to facts.
→ To the homepage of Kunstwerk Bilder
This text is now on our start page. Next to an image that shows two men in a public toilet – cubist, colorful, artistic. And yes: explicit. This is a deliberate choice.
→ To the homepage of Kunstwerk Bilder
Cruising as part of gay history
Cruising – the search for anonymous sex in public spaces – was for decades one of the few ways for gay men to live their sexuality. In a society that criminalized homosexuality, branded gay love as "unnatural", and persecuted queer people, parks, train stations, public toilets were places of freedom.
A breath of freedom, certainly. Hidden, dangerous, under the constant risk of discovery, arrest, social ostracism. But it was the only way to live the human right to sexuality.
This history is part of our queer identity. It is not pretty, not romantic, not Instagram-friendly. But it is real. And art that wants to tell queer history must not ignore this reality.
Why art must be controversial
Not everyone in the gay community likes cruising. Many see it as a remnant of a time we should have left behind. As something that contradicts the image of "respectable" homosexuality that we strive for today.
Precisely for that reason it is important to talk about it. Precisely for that reason art must take up these topics.
Because art that only shows the beautiful, the acceptable, the mainstream-compatible is not art – it is decoration. Art must be uncomfortable. Art must ask questions. Art must overcome old norms and open up new perspectives.
L'art pour l'art – art for art's sake – is not enough. In a modern society art must move us forward. It must shape the present and future. And for that it must be controversial.
Art must not close its eyes to facts
Cruising exists. It is part of gay reality, yesterday and today. Not for everyone, not as mainstream, but as a fact.
And art must never close its eyes to facts. Art must show what is – not only what is socially desired.
Precisely for that reason we show this image. Precisely for that reason we write this text. Not to provoke (although we accept that), but to make queer history visible, to break taboos, to use art as a political tool.
Kunstwerk Bilder as a political actor
We do not see ourselves only as a shop, but as part of the queer discourse landscape. Our images are not just wall decoration, but statements. Our texts are not just marketing, but stance.
This is unusual for an online shop. This is bold. And this is exactly right.
Because queer art is always political. It was when Tom of Finland turned gay sexuality into an iconic artwork. It was when Keith Haring integrated AIDS activism into his works. And it is today when we show cruising as part of gay history.
Our Gay Art collection
Discover our collection of queer art – from romantic watercolors to controversial, political wall murals. Each image a statement. Each image a piece of history.
Art must be controversial. Art must not close its eyes to facts.
