We’re delighted to announce the publication of Memoria de Cuerpos Rebeldes: Archivos Queer y Trans en el Estado Espanol. The book is edited by PERCOL’s Alberto Berzosa and Juan Antonio Suarez, and is published by Icaria.

In a present dominated by the virtualisation of experience and the logic of algorithms, Memoria de Cuerpos Rebeldes reclaims the political power of physical archives and embodied memories. Via a journey through queer and trans archives in the Spanish State, Alberto Berzosa and Juan Antonio Suárez explore how seemingly minor objects—fanzines, photographs, music tapes, pamphlets, letters, and intimate mementoes—constitute authentic devices of resistance against institutional erasure and digital homogenisation. Far from a detached academic approach, the book proposes a vibrant and affective reading of the “counter-archive”: a space where activism, desire, celebration, affection, and political action intertwine to construct alternative forms of collective memory. The volume rescues peripheral, rural, and insular experiences frequently excluded from official narratives, offering a novel cartography of sexual and gender dissidence within the Spanish context. With accessible, rigorous writing and a strong political and cultural dimension, Memoria de Cuerpos Rebeldes engages with contemporary debates on historical memory, queer culture, LGBTQ+ activism, cultural studies and the politics of archives.

Get yourselves a copy now!

We are delighted to announce the publication of Field Notes on Artistic Participation in Europe’s Trans and Queer Archives. This book is the first major Perverse Collections publication, and has been authored by Eliza Steinbock and Sandro Weilenmann.

Field Notes on Artistic Participation in Europe’s Trans and Queer Archives is a study of how contemporary artists access, question, and contribute to archival holdings. Resulting from two years of research into emerging LGBTQI+ archives across European countries, the book shines a light on the dynamics and potentials of creative strategies. How does it actually work out when artists get involved in archives? And what are the pitfalls and promises that need to be negotiated? Drawing on field visits and interviews with artists, community organisers, and archivists, the book offers provisional guidance to the challenges arising from artist-archive collaborations, stressing communication and mutual awareness.

The book is available Open Access: please access a copy here.

There will be an online launch for the book on 13 March 2026 at 3pm (GMT) / 4pm (CET). Please sign up for the launch here – we hope to see you there!

Publication announcement!

Eliza Steinbock’s essay “I”M STAYING WITH YOU: Archival Bequeathments in Trans Media Cultures” has just been published in the new issue of the journal PUBLIC: Art, Culture, Ideas. You can access the essay here.

Here’s the abstract for the essay:

‘The misinformation campaign that claims transgender people “don’t exist” correlates to the erasure and neglect of trans history and heritage in national, institutional, and community archives worldwide. What kinds of archival and artistic sources provide evidence of the plenitude of trans lives? Artistic experiments with historical documents and records but also gossip and ephemera signals a productive and transformative form of engagement that highlights the malleability and multiplicity of the archival evidentiary paradigm. How do artists interpret and take up such bequeathed heritage? Analyzing the replay and recreation of audio-visual records in Dear Lou Sullivan (Rhys Ernst, 2014) and I’m Staying (Holly Revell & Travis Alabanza, 2019) I look to how these “artchival objects” concentrate and facilitate intergeneration transmission and (dis)identification. I argue that archival bequeathment is not unidirectional – a donor to the archive – but also involves the artist’s acknowledgement of the gift.’

Check it out!

The full programme for our conference in Valencia is now available online – you can access it here. ‘Revolver la memoria queer y trans: contarchivos y periferias’ – the final major PERCOL conference – will be held 21-23 May 2025.

The event opens with a session on 21 May at El Punt (please sign up for this here or via the link on the programme).

The main bulk of the conference, on 22 and 23 May, will be held at Centre Cultural La Nau. Registration for the main conference can be done here, or via the link at the end of the programme.

Hope to see you there!