The Sexuality Studies Association‘s annual Conference was held virtually this year, with an eye towards finally returning to some form of in-person conferencing in the spring of 2023. We had solid attendance at our keynote and plenary events, and our virtual asynchronous conference website was ablaze with comments and feedback on all papers. At the AGM we elected new board members and made a big step as an organization to officially incorporate. This will allow us to do some of the professionalization work the association greatly needs and I am happy to be leaving the association in better shape, with more sustainable structures in place, when I finish my tenure as Chair in May of 2023.
Just days ago I presented my research on “orphaned” HIV/AIDS tapes authored by gay men in the ’80s and ’90s who have since died at the Orphan Film Symposium hosted at Concordia University and organized by both Concordia and New York University. The symposium’s theme was on Counter-Archives, which was fitting as I was presenting on my research that came out of the “AIDS Activist Media” case study that is part of the Archive/Counter-Archive research project where I completed my postdoc. My talk was recorded and should be made available online in the near future.
Renowned Canadian artist collective General Idea is currently exhibiting a grand retrospective at National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. As a primer for the uninitiated, I conducted a brief interview with AA Bronson of GI for Positive Side. The interview titled “Art AIDS, & AA Bronson: Artist AA Bronson Talks to Ryan Conrad About Art and HIV” should be out in print and digital any day now. The exhibition is open through November 20th, 2022.
This coming academic year I’ll be teaching a full 2/2 course load at Carleton: Intro to LGBTQ Studies (Fall/Winter); Sexuality, Gender, & Security (Fall); Sex for Sale (Winter). The courses span the Sexuality Studies, Women and Gender Studies, and Human Rights programs at Carleton, most of which fall under the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation where I am also currently an Adjunct Research Faculty member.
Otherwise I’m just writing, researching, preparing new syllabi, and editing video for the rest of the summer!