For Queer Paranormal, curated by the Two Chairs collective and Anne Thompson, Professor Margaretha Haughwout’s Coven Intelligence Program collective (formerly known as APRIORI) shared spell-to-seed packets, a (BETA) SpellWeaver application, a large diagram of their speculative history, maps, mugwort harvested from nearby fields on summer full moons, and a film in which witches and herbalists are asked what plants they would choose to teach ethics to machines. A self-guided walk offered plant stakes marking “signs” important to the collective’s speculative history.
Queer Paranormal presents a range of artistic practices “haunted” by historical, political and sexual difference. Taking Jackson’s gothic horror classic and its 1963 film version as jumping-off points, the group exhibition identifies queerness in themes including the uncanny and the stranger, with a particular interest in the haunted house as undiscovered country and object of desire.