Duke Mound, Brighton’s Palace Pier, the Marina, Brighton Sauna, Black Rock place, Portslade Basin Road Local Wildlife site and its naturist beach, Brighton Pavilion, the Pride parade, your home during the lockdown, and sometimes your body… all these are heterotopias – places that are outside the norm, that are strange or in other words queer. Brighton (UK), as a holiday seaside town where non-normative and even transgressive behavior is rife, can be seen as a heterotopian city. As such, it has attracted throughout history the LGBT community and it is no wonder that it became the UK’s LGBTQ capital.

The “Queer Heterotopias” exhibition, at the Ledward Centre, produced by SEAS Brighton in collaboration with the NY Centre for LGBTQ+ and the Preus Museum (Norway), celebrates these spaces and takes the visitors on a tour of past and present heterotopias.

 

SEAS (Socially Engaged Art Salon) is an artists’ led organization that promotes socially engaged art practices and artists from underrepresented sectors and works with marginalized communities through exhibitions, workshops, and cultural events. It also offers artists’ support program and residencies.

SEAS’ program takes place at Black and Minorities Ethnic Community Partnership (BMECP) Centre, The Ledward Centre (TLC) the up and coming Brighton’s LTBTQAI+ centre, and at the Jubilee Library. SEAS is the South East hub of the Social Art Network (SAN) and we often collaborate with invited curators, art institutes, charities, and community organizations.

Founded by Dr Gil Mualem-Doron in 2016, and supported by Art Council England and Brighton & Hove City Council, SEAS is a beacon for socially and politically engaged art in Brighton and south-East England.

SEAS is the South-East hub for the Social Art Network (UK) and it has collaborated with organizations such as Platforma Arts+Refugees, Sanctuary on Sea, Brighton Museum, Brighton Pride, Brighton Photo Fringe, Photoworks, Blast Theory, Esmée Fairbairn, and the Coram Foundation. Since 2018 SEAS has been supported by the Art Council England and Brighton & Hove Council.