Research
Critical Spacing
HOW TO LOVE DISCOMFORT?
Critical Spacing starts from a simple but important question. Many gender-diverse communities rely on safe(r) spaces—places that protect, support, and help us imagine genderfluid futures. These spaces matter deeply. But we also ask: Can we dream of queer futures together with people who come from more traditional or (hetero)normative backgrounds? Can they feel the warmth of hope, or do they experience queer worlds as something strange, tense, or even unsettling?
RELNACHT looks for ways to create change that go beyond designing safe(r) spaces alone. Inspired by nightlife, punk- and queer culture, we explore how to wake up audiences and how to shake habits and expectations without pushing people away.
“Our task is to make trouble, to stir up potent response to devastating events, as well as to settle troubled waters and rebuild quiet places.”
SOCIAL DESIGN
Our research focuses on designing a social space that is not afraid of being direct, sexual, or edgy. This space can be a literal space, but is also approached in an abstract way. At the same time, we avoid turning queerness into a distant spectacle. When things feel too far away from people’s own experience, they easily fall into “othering”—thinking of queer lives as something strange or separate. Instead, we try to balance provoking people with staying connected to them.
This means creating a space where tension, friction, and vulnerability are allowed. People can feel uneasy, curious, or challenged. Stories may clash. But the invitation is always to stay present, to stay open, and to explore new experiences together. It is the practice of critical spacing (a verb).
CRITICICAL ZONE
We describe this space as a critical zone: a place that is unstable, fragile, and always shifting. Like environmental “critical zones,” it is full of negotiations and constant change.
In the end, Critical Spacing is about exploring how to connect with people while still provoking them. Instead of explaining queerness from a distance, we invite audiences into an experience; a moment where understanding comes through being there, feeling, and engaging, rather than just listening to a story.
As Donna Haraway writes. This guides our approach. We invite collaborators, partners, and audiences to stay in the troubled water; to sit with discomfort instead of escaping it, and to use that discomfort as a starting point for new thinking and new relationships.
Special mentions:
Kas Pijs for their master thesis of Genderstudies: Critical Spacing