"BOXED"
"REPRESSION AGAINST LGBTQ IN PRESENT-DAY RUSSIA.
TRAVELING EXHIBITION"
If you’d like to help host the exhibition in your region, please contact us [email protected].
The exhibition is not only an artistic endeavor but also an important platform for
shedding light on the realities faced by the LGBTIQ community in Russia today, it is
designed to engage a broad audience, including cultural and political actors, and to
foster a deeper understanding of the current situation.
We would be truly grateful for your support in making this happen.
Our goal is to bring this exhibition to cities across Europe and beyond. To help us to
come to more places you can donate or become our partner in your city.
From May 29 to June 5 we presented an eventful, emotionally powerful program: performances, a screening of Queendom, a talk with human rights activist Olga Romanova and a discussion on repression and LGBTIQ rights in Russia. Each event became part of a shared statement — about pain, vulnerability, resistance and freedom. The BOXED space, built around seven black boxes, offered an immersive experience of deeply personal and political topics. We are grateful to everyone who joined us — participants, audience members, partner organizations and our team. Thank you for your trust, your time and your willingness to engage with difficult subjects and take part in a compelling and honest dialogue.
More than 2,000 people visited the exhibition during its run. It was especially significant that representatives of various ministries — including the German Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs — expressed interest. We were also supported by prominent human rights advocates, representatives of non-queer NGOs from Germany and Russia, anti-war Russian politicians, foundation representatives, artists and civil society activists. We’re sharing photos from the exhibition.
BOXED is more than just an exhibition. It is an immersive space at the intersection of art and documentary storytelling. Visitors move through seven black boxes, each dedicated to a specific theme — from transphobia and denunciations to accusations of extremism and imprisonment. Inside: confinement, suppression, fear. But also — hope, solidarity and freedom. We will continue to speak out about the repression against LGBTIQ people. We will keep searching for the language, the forms and the ways to be together and to support each other — no matter what.
Background
Since February 2022, homophobia has become the core of the Russian state ideology. With the new laws gradually passing, LGBTQ people in Russia face day-to-day discrimination and (self-)censorship as well as threats to liberty, health and safety. They become outlaws while anti-gender narratives are used to justify aggressive military action and war. The Russian example of anti-gender politics is already used by the neighbouring countries under Russian influence, "best practices" and hate narratives can be further applied by right-wing regimes in other countries considering the right turn in European politics. Thi alarming tendency is a threat to international law and democracy beyond one country. We aim to draw attention to the ongoing repression of LGBTIQ people in Russia and to remind the global community of the threat it poses to democracies world-wide. We call for active international support. The exhibition acts as a mediator between the victims and the general audience, offering a space for reflection and discussion, publicity and protection.
Concept
"Boxed" is a series of art installations that, based on documentary evidence, unfold the
history of repressive policies towards the LGBTQ community in Russia. The seven thematic
installations are designed in the form of isolated boxes symbolizing suppression and
imprisonment.
The title addresses the way LGBTQ people feel in Russia today. They are forced into a
small airless space and confined there. Their current "box" is smaller and more
uncomfortable than the famous closet that symbolizes the impossibility to be oneself in
a violent traditionalist society.
Key Topics
The "box" is the main metaphor and the main construction of the exhibition. There are 7 installation boxes representing key topics related to LGBTIQ in present-day Russia:
- Imprisonment
- Torture
- Transgender discrimination
- Censorship
- Denunciations
- The Court decision on extremism recognition
- The Nineties (the "dashing" years of LGBTIQ in Russia)
While multimedia installations affect emotions, comments on the external side of each box provide factual information on respective topics.
Anna Narinskaya
(author, curator, documentary filmmaker, political activist)
In Russia she worked at the Kommersant and Novaya Gazeta newspapers as a journalist,
literary critic and editor. Now in Berlin, she writes for Tagesspiegel and Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung.
Curated exhibitions for Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Jewish Museum, Museum of
Architecture, co-created and curated Joseph Brodsky's Museum in St. Petersburg. In
Europe curated the exhibition "No Such People Here. LGBTQ+ in Chechnya today", shown at
Pride Art Berlin Gallery (2023) and in the UN Mission in Geneva (2024).
The author of documentaries "Find the Jew: Jewish Identity in the USSR" and "Rock,
Paper, Scissors: Ardis Publishing House and the Fate of Russian Literature". Her play
"The Last Word" based on final statements in court by Russian women political prisoners,
premiered at the Gorki
Theater in Berlin (2022) and in Marylebone Theater in London (2024).
