Reading Group with U? curator, Jô Páscoa

Thursday Jul 16th 2026

This month, U? curator Jô Páscoa will host the second reading group—a shared space to gather, reflect and think alongside one another.

Over the past several years, we've been actively reflecting (both internally and in dialogue with various collaborators) on how the relationships between (cultural) institutions and grassroots organizations, collectives and communities can be more thoughtfully nurtured. We recognize that these relationships require careful and sustained attention. With that in mind, we’re started this monthly reading group.

On Thursday, 30 July, at 5:30 PM, we’ll host this year's second reading group in our office. For this session, we’ll read excerpts from Listening with Monstrous Ears: on cisnormativity, transmasculinities and psychoanalysis by Bruno Latini Pfeil & Cello Latini Pfeil and My Words to Victor Frankenstein above the Village of Chamounix by Susan Stryker.

When reading, we'll focus on the relationship between gender queerness and monster archetypes, the ways in which the label of "monster" has been used to demonize queerness, and how the authors reclaim this label to to deflate the insult.

We warmly invite our extended network: artists and creators, venue partners, current and former curators, as well as anyone curious to join.

Each session will have two parts: engaging with the material (reading, listening, watching) and an open conversation and exchange (building on what we’ve just experienced together).

These conversations will be lightly documented by the U? team and shared in an open-access archive, always with full respect for participants’ privacy and anonymity. We’ll have coffee, tea, a thoughtful text and good company. Each gathering will last about 1 to 1.5 hours.

Interested in joining? You can register here.

We hope this space becomes one where we can learn from one another, be moved by each other’s words and grow—together.

To hold that intention, we ask everyone to enter the conversation with care: with respect for each other’s voices, a critical lens that uplifts rather than harms and a listening ear that makes space for pauses, hesitations and differences.

Going forward, we hope each session will be hosted by someone different—an individual, collective or community—bringing in materials they’ve been working with or thinking through. Would you be willing to host the next session? Reach out, we’d love to hear from you.

Artwork by Tonya Belugina