Essay Club No.9: Holly Riding on Queer Feminist Curating

Note: Registrations open 10am Friday 2 October 2026. Everyone is welcome but space is limited—prompt registration is essential. 

Join us at the IMA for Essay Club no. 9 with Holly Riding. We'll discuss Sylvia Sadzinski's article 'Discomfort, Disruption, Disgust: Queer Feminist Curating and the Affective' published in Gender<ed> Thoughts (2026). The text examines how queer feminist curating operates through affect, emphasising discomfort, disruption, and disgust as politically productive forces.

Holly Riding is a leading exhibition designer and curator working at the intersection of public art and purpose-led digital technology to create accessible cultural experiences for galleries, museums, and cultural institutions. They navigate the symbiotic interplay of exhibition design, spatial planning, and inclusive practices as critical drivers of cultural engagement. Holly has overseen the transformation and delivery of newly commissioned public museums and galleries across Australia, and has received industry recognition for award-winning exhibitions. Together we'll discuss Holly's work and the analysis of queer feminist curating as suggested by Sylvia Sadzinski.

Join us for drinks and a chat. The essay will be emailed upon registration.

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Join us at the IMA for Essay Club. Whether you’re a university student, emerging arts worker, artist, or someone who thinks critically about culture, there’s space at the table. Each session, our well-read friends from the neighbourhood will select a text that’s shaping their ideas, conversations, and approaches to contemporary arts practice. We dig into the ideas together, with a focus on how global conversations might translate locally.

Your Essay Club hosts for 2026 include Nicholas Aloisio-Shearer (Institute of Modern Art), Holly Anderson (Artist), Amanda Bennetts (Artist), Madeline Brewer (Institute of Modern Art), Elena Dias-Jayasinha (Queensland Art Gallery), Holly Eddington (Milani Gallery), Jocelyn Flynn (UQ Art Museum), Tay Haggarty (Outer Space), Llewellyn Millhouse (Wreckers Artspace), and Holly Riding (State Library of Queensland).