Excerpt from my essay Hidden in Plain Sight: The Never-Visible Haunting of Trans* Performativity [2018].

Taken from the walls of a gay club in Amsterdam, the first of the “NO” posters functioned in the performance as a rejection or augmentation of the always-visible. Prominently displayed at the back of the stage, the poster is intended to directly confront the audience, reminding them of their position as geographic ally, not disengaged reporter. A geographic ally engages as a collaborator to an event, unable to extricate oneself from the work by claiming any level of immunity. The “NO” posters became a recurring voice, setting out more rules for our GAME SHOW (‘no winners, no losers, no correct answers’). These ridiculous rule systems combine with our use of cliché and sardonic reference to help build a queer space that sits in relation to the norm. This form of referencing is common in queer events, performers and artists will often talk of ‘queering’ an event. The more commonplace the source the more it appears to attract a queer hacking. Examples old and new include: beauty pageants, bingo, political interviews, the whole concept of “executive realness”, and in the Invisible Salon, game shows, hair salons and courtroom dramas. An important part of exhibiting queerly is staying close to the original, without being counted with or for it.