Group exhibition
Queer Museum, Vienna
26.09 - 14.12.2025


Ugly Things_Unlearning Beauty walks the fine line that distinguishes the affinity for cheap trash from expensive taste, while simultaneously undermining that very dichotomy. We closely examine the authority that decides who and what has a place in the museum and is thus deemed valuable enough to gain entrance, visibility and longevity.

Queer is a term that is still frequently used to devalue someone or something, to label them as deviant, perverse or disgusting – perhaps even ugly. In a similar way, some people use the expression “ugly thing” to objectify and dehumanize — when applied to a person. This exhibition draws parallels between the two labels and interrogates the motives and mechanisms behind such denominations — with the goal of exposing and dismantling them.


More information

Photo: João Pedro Vale + Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, Não é o homossexual que é perverso, mas a situação em que ele vive (Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt) (2020)