As someone who is often disappointed with queer parties, I set out on a journey to find people who felt similarly and were doing something to fill the sad void. As a natural starting point I began a search for alternative events listings that featured immersive, inclusive, and queer events. We all love Jeff Stark but with such a huge list and open policy it’s impossible for them to filter or personally speak to the quality of all of the events featured. I have subscribed to a number of event lists here in this lovely (and soul sucking) city, and yet I still needed more options. I was pleasantly surprised to come upon The Culture Whore. TCH is a queer arts community founded and run by Mark Dommu and Paul Leopold. Upon visiting their site I learned that in addition to publishing a weekly events listing called THE WEEK, they also produce their own parties. The events they promote are heavily arts and performance-focused making it a solid resource when seeking environments that promote gender nonconformity, conceptual fashion, and performative art. Curious to learn more, I reached out to them and was warmly greeted by the duo. Shortly after, I found myself sitting cross-legged on a bench in the back corner of Pine Box Rock Shop in Bushwick where the three of us sipped on beers and shared our dreams for humanity along with the current and future state of the NYC queer nightlife community. Here’s what they had to say:
“People wanted a gritty, artsy queer party without the pretension of “coolness” and social hierarchies that haunt many other parties in New York.”
What is the Culture Whore?
The Culture Whore is a community of artists exploring queerness in all its forms by creating ephemeral spaces and permanent platforms that cultivate connectivity, inclusivity, free expression, and pleasure. We’re a concept driven event production company specializing in DIY Brooklyn warehouse parties that feature an eclectic mix of DJs, performers and installations curated around ever evolving themes that seek to generate artistic responses from all who engage. The Culture Whore is a conduit for the electric fantasy that has always existed in New York City, and is best understood around 5am on the dance floor. Beyond our production work, The Culture Whore also promotes the intersection between art and nightlife in NYC’s queer world with our weekly newsletter THE WEEK and are often hosts at parties such as Holy Mountain, Shade, The Bunker, and Spank.
What inspired you to begin your nightlife series? Were there aspects of the gay vs. queer scene in NYC that made you want to create an alternative?
We didn’t initially set out to throw parties. The Culture Whore started as a blog where we wrote about nightlife, art, music and fashion and served as an incubator for us to develop work as well as gain access and recognition within different underground communities. We threw a simple rooftop party in September 2012 and it turned out to be poppin. BOYWOLF did his first performance, JX Cannon played music and people were so happy to be there. That December we decided to try throwing a loft party at a gallery in Bushwick, ‘Dick The Balls’ and everyone showed up. It was like all our friends were waiting for this moment, like there was an energy that was waiting to be released. People wanted a gritty, artsy queer party without the pretension of “coolness” and social hierarchies that haunt many other parties in New York. Our parties always have this super friendly open vibe to them, we think that’s important in an age where cunty is cool. We didn’t quite realize we were filling a void until people started telling us that they’d never been to a party like ours before and for many people Culture Whore parties represent the kind of bohemian fantasy that they moved to the city to experience. – Paul
Can you describe a particular event that you feel was emblematic of your mission?
The party we manifested this March, Red Light Planet, was probably the most conceptually successful thing we’ve created so far. The idea came to us so clearly: a far flung planet that all of the artists and queerdos and degenerates have turned into a pleasuredome. It was like the ultimate extreme of urban sprawl – we were literally priced out of our homes into another galaxy! It was a beautiful exploration of the things that had been inspiring us – sci-fi, techno, the sex workers we know and love. The party was all about a fantastical space that queers had turned into their own, which is what all of our parties strive to be. – Mark
Do you often face recurring challenges when working to create an inclusive environment?
Creating inclusive spaces is hard. Our mission is to connect lots of creative queer dreamers together but there are so many complicated variables that make different identity groups weary of interacting with each other. The most obvious challenge is that Mark & I are both cis(ish) white girls from privileged backgrounds and our two resident DJs JX Cannon and David Sokolowski share that demographic identity. So we work hard to program diversity into our lineups so that when someone who doesn’t look like us checks out the party they feel like they will be represented. However, booking more females and people of color doesn’t exactly mean our crowd suddenly changes. The real work of creating a melting pot happens on the personal friendship collaborative level and so we’ve been focusing more on reaching out and cultivating relationships that will expand the scope of our worldview and reach. We want to provide platforms for people who wouldn’t get them elsewhere. We see our privilege as power that we can use to disrupt the mainstream and empower all sorts of folks. MORE IS MORE AT THE CULTURE WHORE so we’ll never understand those queers who are more concerned with segregating the community than cultivating unity. Unfortunately I think it’s easier to segregate and call people out than it is to actually engage and listen to each other and so right now there seems to be more segregating even as people seem to idealize a time when things weren’t so segregated. We need more people to fight for inclusive space and more dialogue about how we do that and why it’s important.
One way we cultivate inclusivity is by focusing on art. A lot of other parties in the lgbtq word sell sex as way of promoting. The idea is that if you go to that party you’ll meet a bunch of sexy people and have hot sex. But when the emphasis is on sex, the crowd that follows is usually homogenous and often mirrors the demographic of the party throwers. However, since we’re selling art we open our doors to whoever understands and is inspired by our artistic vision. – Paul
“…booking more females and people of color doesn’t exactly mean our crowd suddenly changes. The real work of creating a melting pot happens on the personal friendship collaborative level and so we’ve been focusing more on reaching out and cultivating relationships that will expand the scope of our worldview and reach.”
How do you feel about the practice of drag within the scope of feminism?
The best drag queens we know seek to explore their own inherent femininity and celebrate womanhood, while skewering the way our patriarchal society treats women. If drag is mocking anything, it’s the rigidity society places on identity. Our frequent collaborator, trans showgirl Charlene, said it best in an interview she did with the Huffington Post: “Drag, as art form, reflects my relationship to identity in that it holds irreverence and fluidity chief among its values. Queer people are not allowed their identities, and drag turns that tragedy into a comedy by saying that identity is fantasy. Who do you want to be today? What color hair do you have? Where did you come from? Drag gives you endless options.” – Mark
Can you recommend a few places in NYC for someone interested in pushing their personal boundaries through aesthetic expression?
First of all, stop shopping at places like Urban Outfitters that attempt to sell you corporatized uniqueness while using your money to fund shady political ideologies. If you’ve got some cash to burn, explore local queer designers. We wear a lot of looks by people like Bcalla, TillyandWilliam, and FONY, and it’s amazing to know that not only are you wearing something fabulous, but that the money you spent on it is going directly to the person who made it. There are websites and pop-up shops like Elkel and Multitask that curate these underground designers and make their clothing accessible.
And your best resource is always your local thrift store! Urban Jungle in Bushwick is a personal favorite. Spend some time combing through the racks and you’re sure to find something weird and fantastic for $10 or less. – Mark
What’s next for you?
Our Halloween party CHAMBER OF SECRETS will explore the fears we carry with us from childhood by blending various pop culture references—with Harry Potter as an entrance point—that remind us of being a little kid afraid of the dark. The party will feature our signature blend of dance, drag, performance art and immersive installations inside an awesome Brooklyn warehouse. We’re especially excited about the haunted house style labyrinth we’re creating to lure the crowd through the cobwebs of consciousness and the $100 cash prize costume contest that always leaves everyone gagging. In the near future we hope to continue collaborating with groups like Factory Girls and explore touring to different cities. – Paul
As a visual preview check out the video we produced on an event they produced this summer called OASIS:
For more information and to subscribe to THE WEEK please visit theculturewhore.com
