Group exhibition BEYOND THE HIGH. THE CHEMSEX EXPERIENCE: CRISIS, RESILIENCE AND COMMUNITY

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Beyond the High. The Chemsex Experience: Crisis, Resilience, and Community examines the socio-affective terrain that emerges post-climax. Those liminal spaces where desire and exhaustion converge. It interrogates communal responses to stigmatized practices, exploring frameworks of radical care, post-traumatic resilience, and the dismantling of internalized shame. Healing here is not conceived as individual recovery, but as a collective, interdependent process—one rooted in mutual recognition, social kinship.

Healing here is not conceived as individual recovery, but as a collective, interdependent process—one rooted in mutual recognition and social kinship. In a world where digital intimacy often replaces physical connection, the chemsex phenomenon emerges/surfaces as both a pursuit of liberation and a manifestation of deep longing. This exhibition explores the intricate dynamics of desire, kinship, and the search for belonging within queer communities. At its core, chemsex — the fusion of chemical substances with sexual experiences—reflects complex motivations: the quest for pleasure, trauma relief, and the yearning for connection. While it offers moments of euphoria, it also exposes individuals to risks, including mental health challenges, dependency, and the erosion of boundaries.

Beyond the High lingers in the stillness following the climax, solitude in the tender hours where echoes remain, but language fails. It examines communal responses to stigmatized practices, exploring frameworks of care, resilience, and the dismantling of internalized shame. This exhibition asks: How do we heal into love again? It imagines healing not as individual recovery, but as a shared, interdependent process rooted in mutual recognition, chosen kinship.

[Quelle: https://web.archive.org/save/https://www.entrevienna.com/exhibitions/beyondthehigh]

Parham Rostan Abadi, Maél T. Alfaro, Sheri Avraham, Jonas Baur, Yasemin Duru, Ed Firth, John Hanning, Sascha Knorr, Galo Moncayo, Gabi Moncayo-Asan

Objects

(Archival material, Publications)

2025 Triebe und Drogen: Künstlerische Einführung in ein schambehaftetes Terrain (Text)