Season Opening: Soft Touch Men – a Performance by Rah Naqvi

Time: 6 – 6.30 pm
Location: Staircase (ground floor)

In this collaborative work the artist Rah Naqvi brings to surface a tradition, an age old practice, brought to the public eye, a trans refuge.
Voyeuristic in it’s nature, a stage is set, mimicking a space similar to that of a male saloon. In a vulnerable exchange, the artist deconstructs a masculinity that feels other-ly and creates a retribution ritual of a song sung while accepting touch. The performance is a collaboration with musician Antigoni Seferli.

Intrinsic to Rah Naqvi’s practice is their identity. The materiality and techniques in their work create familiarity with the viewer, establishing safer grounds onto which a truth is unveiled. Through satire, whimsical props, and softness, one is made to believe something joyous awaits. Rah questions the very nature of resistance for a queer person whose existence is a continuous act of defiance against normativity. This language of queer defiance extends to their practice of singing, alluding to the polyphonic nature of love and revolution while cautioning against the monotony of a choice-less future.

Antigoni Seferli was born and raised in Athens, Greece. After the end of her studies Athens
Conservatoire in 2013, she finished another circle of studies with the profile of Early Music at
the State University for Music and Performing Arts of Stuttgart, in Germany and in 2019 she
completed her Masters in Historical Performance Practice at the Conservatory of Amsterdam
in the class of Viola de Hoog. Her main interest today lies in chamber music. During last year Antigoni started exploring her interest in and experimenting with free improvisation and music outside the Western Classical Music formats. She collaborates often with the Queer Choir Amsterdam and with Rah Naqvi with whom she explores
interdisciplinary and experimental practices.

• This event is free of charge