Revisit our recent night hosted with Oxford’s smash-hit drag club-night, Haute Mess through joyful illustration.
Programmed as part of Modern Art Oxford’s exhibition Boundary Encounters and exploring queer nightlife, take in moments from the event through live illustration by Ione Rail, along with photographs, words, lyrics and publicity materials.
“Raving is a collaborative practice that makes it possible to endure this life.” – McKenzie Wark, Raving
On the night of 17 August 2023, Modern Art Oxford geared up for its busiest MAO Late event to date. A regular feature in Modern Art Oxford’s programme, MAO Lates bring people together through performance, conversation, drinks and music, and are centred on creative community, conversation and exchange.
Programmed as part of Boundary Encounters, our summer collaboration with artists and communities, Oxford’s hugely popular drag club-night Haute Mess was to take over the gallery for the night, bringing together a host of queer/trans writers, performers, artists and DJs. With this special MAO Late event in celebration of queer nightlife, we were excited to explore with Haute Mess what they call ‘the conflicting nature of our impulses to escape.’
We were joined by Donna Marcus Duke (aka Donna the First) and Jacob Mallinson Bird (aka Dinah Lux) for Please Evacuate Responsibly: On Donk and Drunkeness, a conversation between Dinah and Donna exploring joy, euphoria and humour within queer spaces.
During their lively discussion, Donna The First explored how the ‘revival of ‘donk’ music in queer and trans nightlife eschews raving’s aspirations for transcendence for humorous engagements with materiality.’ Dinah Lux considered how the joyful revelling in queer spaces represents an infectious ‘“queer drunkenness”, that heady, mind-altering state of queer euphoria, without necessarily engaging in narcotic activities.’
“Evacuate the dance floor
(Oh, oh) I’m infected by the sound
(Oh, oh) stop this beat is killing me
Hey Dr. DJ let the music take me underground”
– Cascada, 2009 (Song lyrics from MAO Late X Haute Mess Takeover event zine)
The evening’s finale was offered by artist and trans activist, Biogal in the form of an immersive live performance in Modern Art Oxford’s Basement.
“Biogal’s soft porn-cabaret-cum-lecture explores how transexuality reconnects humanity to its innate urge to build homes of and through the body. Like a city pigeon nesting with composites of natural and man-made materials, bound in spit; A Hatching Place builds a lived in network between the auto-theory of Eva Hayward, McKenzie Wark & Hannah Baer; archival material on the radical street queens of New York; music of trans punk duo Deli Girls, house cult classic Castro Boy & Bird Gurhl by Anohni with original poetry and costuming (Party City Pigeon Wings).
The performance begs for sanctuary in the face of fetishisation and surveillance, and culminates with Biogal lying in a mess of theory, glamour and twigs.”
-Words by Bio Gal and Haute Mess (From MAO Late X Haute Mess Takeover event zine)
“Nightlife is often understood as a mode of escapism: in creating temporary club spaces, respite might be found from our increasingly fraught social, cultural and economic context.
But in our practice of nightlife, how might this escapism be sustainable? How might it actually help us endure the world?
Might there be more refuge in facing the world rather than trying to escaping it?
And how might we do this in the club?”
– Haute Mess
This post was inspired by live illustration of the MAO Late X Haute Mess Takeover, created by Ione Rail. Ione is an Oxford based illustrator who aims to capture the beauty in everyday life. Drawing inspiration from nature, dream scenes and the mundane, Ione weaves intricate narratives through her illustrations. Discover more illustration by Ione on her Instagram page.
For more information, news and upcoming events with Haute Mess, follow them on Facebook and Instagram.