Diana Georgiou
Staff details
Diana is a writer and independent cultural programmer working with feminist, queer and decolonial art practices.
Diana Georgiou was the founder and co-director of the non-profit organisation CUNTemporary / Arts Feminism Queer (2012-2021) which platformed feminist, queer and decolonial art practices and theories by organising exhibitions, conferences, screenings, Live Art events and club nights. The organisation’s final public programme "Ecofutures: Queer, Feminist and Decolonial Responses to Ecological & Environmental Changes" (2019) brought together over 70 artists, performers, activists and theorists, across 7 venues in London with the support of 10 partner organisations. Georgiou has curated exhibitions and public programmes at Furtherfield Gallery, ICA, Showroom Gallery, and Peltz Gallery amongst others.
Parallel to her curatorial work, her theoretical research covers feminist psychoanalysis and theories of affect, sexuality and desire as they relate to visual culture. She is currently engaged with the work of feminist philosopher and social-political theorist Teresa Brennan.
Academic qualifications
- PhD Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London 2019
- MA History of Art & Design, Kingston University 2009
- BA Graphic Communication, University of Nicosia, Cyprus 2006
Teaching and supervision
Research interests
Feminist psychoanalysis; feminist philosophy; radical and antiassimilationist queer politics; sex worker politics (decriminalize now!); postporn art practices; Live Art with attention to pain, pleasure and sexuality; intersections of art, activism and political resistance; critical approaches to the institutionalisation of feminist and queer politics; DIY and DIWO cultures for autonomous creativity.
Featured publications
2023:
XX: Fragile encounters with performance artist Rocío Boliver
Performance Research, Vol. 27 Iss.8. (2023).
2022:
Other Reflexes
A novel structured as five interrelated tales – each dedicated to one of the senses – recount what it means for domestic, interpersonal and systemic violence to be the primary component of one’s world
2020:
A Dossier on Queer, Feminist and Decolonial Ecologies
Eds. Diana Georgiou, Katherine Goss, and Sofia Vranou.
2018:
Documenting (Im)material Forces
Georgiou, Diana & Casalini, Giulia. ‘Documenting (Im)material Forces.’ In Transitional States, Exhibition Catalogue, 2018.
2014:
Notes on Queer-Feminist Aesthetics
Georgiou, Diana & Casalini, Giulia. ‘Notes on Queer-Feminist Aesthetics.’ In Re-materialising Feminism. (London: Arcadia Missa, 2014) pp. lxxxv-xc.
Grants and awards
2020:
Book Works: Interstices Series
Shortlisted writing as part of the Interstices series published by Book Works
2019:
ACE - National Lottery Project Grant for the project Ecofutures
EcoFutures was funded by ACE Grants for the Arts, European Cultural Foundation, British Association of American Studies, American Embassy, Tower Hamlets Community Fund & Queen Mary University
2017:
ACE - Grants for the Arts for the project "Deep Trash: A Live Art Programme"
Deep Trash explored three thematic areas in relation to Live Art through queer and feminist perspectives.
2015:
ACE & Goldsmith’s Annual Fund for the project "Now You Can Go"
Curated with Angelica Bollettenari, Giulia Casalini, Laura Guy, Helena Reckitt, Irene Revell and Amy Tobin. A two-week programme of events considering feminist thinking, art and activism.
2015:
Goldsmiths Graduate Fund - Conference funding for "Live Art & the Cyborg Body"
Organised with Giulia Casalini. A conference at the intersections of Live Art and new media including Dr. Jennifer Parker-Starbuck, artists Oreet Ashery and Sin Wai Kin.
2013:
Curatorial Residency Award @ Guest Projects for the project "Happiness Now?"
Curated with Giulia Casalini. A group exhibition of emerging artists with a public programme on alternative interpretations of happiness to the mainstream imperatives of success, work, consumption.
Professional projects
5-9/08/2022 – Lemesos International Documentary Film Festival, Cyprus.
The Republic of Lesbians & their Friends
Curated with Natalia Damigou-Papoti and Mihali Intzieyanni. A public programme addressing the absence of lesbian and feminist representations, discourses and movements in Cyprus. Creating space for the multicommunal experiences and expressions of queer women of the island, the programme spotlighted local acts of self-determination and resilience, drew inspiration from dyke communities and histories, and showcased international contemporary artists.
12/03 – 19/04/2020 – Furtherfield Gallery, London.
Translocal Cooperation
Group exhibition curated with Ruth Catlow, Lina Džuverović and Huma Kabakcı. As part of Connect for Creativity, an 18-month project led by the British Council, in collaboration with ATÖLYE and Abdullah Gül University in Turkey, Bios in Greece and Nova Iskra in Serbia, the exhibition brought together artists from Greece, Serbia, Turkey and the UK with a focus on intercultural collaborative experience.
04-19/04/2019 – London: Live Art Development Agency; Genesis Cinema; Queen Mary, University of London; Chisenhale Dance Space; Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club; Mile End Art Pavilion; Limehouse Town Hall;
EcoFutures: Queer, Feminist and Decolonial Responses to Ecological & Environmental Changes
Curated with Giulia Casalini. Taking place across 7 venues in East London, the programme brought together over 70 artists, activists and theorists from all over the world to create a platform for discussion and experimentation around urgent environmental and ecological issues such as climate change, extinction, pollution, health and sustainability through an intersectional, feminist and queer lens.
2018-2019 – Project Space Plus, Lincoln, UK; Peltz Gallery, London, UK; LABS Gallery Arte Contemporanea, Bologna, Italy; Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), Spain, Barcelona.
Transitional States: Hormones at the Intersections of Art & Science
International Touring Video Art Exhibition curated with Giulia Casalini and funded by the Wellcome Trust. The exhibition sees 14 artists and collectives present their experiences and interpretations of the various roles these essential chemicals play in our lives. In these works, the artists explore how hormone use has affected sexuality, gender identity and fluidity, and how it has offered some people the freedom to express themselves.
April 2017 - March 2018 – Queen Mary, University of London & Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, London.
Deep Trash Live Art Festival
Curated with Giulia Casalini and funded by Arts Council England. The programme explored three thematic areas in relation to Live Art through queer and feminist perspectives. It showcased over 130 artists in 3 sell-out club nights and 3 symposia, attracting over 2,400 people including researchers, professionals, artists and the general public.
Media engagements
2024: Diana Georgiou interviewed by Bridget Penney in 3:am Magazine
2017:
‘Queering’ Is The Alchemy Of Turning A White Cube Into A Disco Ball’
Press related to Cuntemporary's programme Deep Trash. By Maggie Kuzan.
2013: CUNTemporary interview with Artworld Now editor Martin McDonald
Conferences and talks
2025:
With Whose Blood were my Eyes Crafted?
As part of "Centrefold 1974: A Memoir by Louise O’Hare" a book launch at London Centre of Book Arts with readings from Bridget Penney & Stewart Home
2023:
Illicit desires and strategies of resistance, or, how we survived the 1990s. Diana Georgiou in conversation with Professor Stavros S. Karayanni.
As part of "Sessions: A Series of Queer Happenings." SPEL State Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus.
2019:
Challenging Binary Definitions of ‘Mother’, Family, Gender and Sexual Orientation.
In: Oxytocin: Mothering the World. Open discussion with Bracha Ettinger, Del LaGrace Volcano, Dr Lisa Baraitser and others.
2019:
Can Art Change the World?
With Giulia Casalini, as part of "Periférica: Brainstorming Cultures & Geographies", Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Regional de Ponta Delgada, Largo do Colégio Açores, Portugal.
2018:
Sexing the Canon: Queer-Feminist Curatorial Strategies.
With Giulia Casalini. In: "art + activism: queer & feminist visibilities." University College London.
2018:
New Systems: Queer and Feminist Curatorial Practice.
With Giulia Casalini. A presentation and workshop @ Royal Academy of Arts, London.
2017:
The Future is Lesbian: Transnational Queer Feminism from the 70s to Now.
Accept – LGBTI Organisation, Cyprus.
2017:
Queer Inclinations: A Visual Analysis of Rectitude.
In: "Giving Life to Politics: The Work of Adriana Cavarero." Centre for Applied P
2017:
Stereotypically Ambiguous: exploring the associations between ambiguity and queer bodies.
In: "Ambiguous Bodies: Timeless Interpretations." NeMe & The Department of Fine Arts, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus.
Selected Conference Organisation
13/04/2019 – Queen Mary, University of London
Queer-feminist Ecocriticism in Live Art & Visual Cultures
Organised with Giulia Casalini, this one-day international conference brought together artists, theorists and activists to cover topics ranging from non-human ethics to ecosexuality. Invited speakers include Gaia Giuliani, João Florencio and Silvia Federici. Artworks by Wangechi Mutu, Adelita Husni-Bey, and Beth Stephens & Annie Sprinkle were screened for this occasion.
26/09/2017 – Queen Mary, University of London
Performing the Occult: Magick, Rituals & Monstrosity in Live Art
Organised with Giulia Casalini. Between the supernatural and teratological, this symposium opens up debate on how the magickal and the monstrous in Live Art offer perspectives on queer-feminist ethics, post-colonial resurgences and anti-capitalist resistance. Presentations by artists Ivan Monteiro, Mette Sterre, Martin O’Brien and keynote lecture by Patricia MacCormack.
27/04/2017 – Queen Mary, University of London
Power, Subcultures & Queer Stages
Organised with Giulia Casalini. The conference examined the relationship between sexual identity and style, camp and spectacle, cultural appropriation and genderfuck, Live Art and activism. Presentations included Daniel Lismore, Jonny Woo, Malik Nashad Sharpe and keynote lecture by Dr. Shaun Cole.
09/12/2016 – University of Dundee, Scotland.
Self/Portraits: Relating Narratives
Curated with Giulia Casalini and Dr. Laura Leuzzi. Performative screening of video art by feminist artists who employ auto/biographical methods.