A momument to Queer Gothic , 2020

In 1749 Horace Walpole a queer man, writer, architect, socialite -and the son of the first UK prime minister- envisioned Strawberry Hill. A suburban palace built in Gothic style at a time when Palladianism was still in fashion. Inside his secluded mansion Horace created a world of his own, where he could explore his identity freely from the wondering eye. The Neo-Gothic of Strawberry Hill House can be understood as a deliberate rebel counter-culture. This act of Queer architectural rebellion is not any less relevant today, where we encounter the replacement of LGBTQ+ spaces with towering glass architecture. The exuberance of the Neo gothic is portrayed in this very tower. A showroom for the style, made as an ‘open cage’. Elements of the Neo gothic are juxtaposed against elements of the queer vernacular, resulting into a hybrid architectural style. Ornament can be powerful if it is culturally relevant and not merely present, Robert Venturi has said. Queer gothic is not to be understood merely as an aesthetic style but also as a set of attributes’, a set of words. At the very top of the tower a recreation of the blue stained-glass windows found at Strawberry Hill house. Horace himself invented a word to describe the effect that those windows created: ”Gloomth” : which can be understood as the relationship between light and shadow. Further down a set of columns are suggesting a new form of tectonics. Queering the traditional four-pillar Gothic column, the artist created a twisted version of it resembling bodies engaging in sexual intercourse.