Centre for Sensory Studies: The Writing is on the Wall: Haptic Presence, Interior Design and Queer Identity

Since at least the nineteenth century homosexual men have been associated with lavatories and the detritus accompanying the space. As a space of hygiene heavily imbued with moralizing signification, the bathroom within queer homes has served not
only as a site of perceived identification, but also as a location to creatively mark out community and self-fashioned identity. By focusing on British and French examples, I intend to explore how within the private confines of private bathrooms, walls in particular served to materialize a uniquely queer form of haptic presence as much as the creation and legitimation of community, creativity and legacy.

Dr John Potvin is Associate Professor in the Department of Art History and Director of the Ph.D. Humanities Program at Concordia University, Montreal, where he teaches on the intersections of art, design and fashion. His research explores the relationship between subjectivity, interior design and space as well as the complexities that cut across contemporary and historical art and fashion. His work also addresses the ways the male body, masculinity and male sexualities, in particular, are performed, represented, understood, critically evaluated, memorialized and perceived through various design and visual cultures in Europe since the late 19th century.