Milano Pride has grown over the years to become one of the biggest in Europe. To mark the end of Pride Month, Milano Pride Week offers a calendar of events around the city focused on the LGBTQIA+ community in the days leading to the main march on July 2.
“Pride Week is, on the one hand, a moment of promotion and visibility of what has been produced in the LGBTQIA+ scene during the year, and on the other, an important opportunity to realise wide-ranging and highly appealing events on issues of particular relevance to the community,” reads an official statement from the organizers.
We have selected where and what to do during the city’s big rainbow festival.
Phoebe Zeitgeist “Aspra”
1 July, 9.30pm
PAC – Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea
Via Palestro 14
The PAC – Pavilion of Contemporary Art museum will host the theatrical performance ASPRA by Phoebe Zeitgeist – freely inspired by the controversial words of Fassbinder, Bataille, Mishima, Pasolini, Copi, Burroughs, Bachmann, and Celan. The concert of bodies, music and words, revolves around a nucleus of actors who take turns to give voice to the words of a series of authors identified among those who have been misinterpreted, marginalised or exiled during their lifetime. At the same time, Aspra’s sound research aims to embody the relationship that these artists’ words build with reality, from which they are first generated and then disowned, then again absorbed and re-emitted. These same dynamics also describe the relationship on stage between voice, bodies, instruments, and sound. The performance has no fixed dramaturgy and structure but is a “scenic concert” with a constantly rethought programme that reshapes itself depending on the places where it is staged, and the precise historical, and political context in which it is staged from time to time.
Pedro Lemebel: A Transmodern Reading
29 June, from 7pm
PAC – Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea
Via Palestro 14
Ariase Barretta will talk about Pedro Lemebel, a Chilean essayist, chronicler and novelist. A constant form of trans-textuality as a reflection of the fluctuating trans-modern magma, the dynamics of global communication and the transmission of information in real-time are at the centre of Lemebel’s work. The Chilean artist openly opposes the foundations of neo-liberal and capitalist society. Lemebel became renowned for her provocative critiques of hypermasculinity, homophobia and racism as manifested in Latin America and the U.S.
Artists for Pride
30 June, from 5 pm
Piazza Lavater
Three emerging artists take an active part in the celebration of uniqueness. Artists Fè Federica Sutti, Elena Zecchin and Fabio Rioli will engage in the creation of new works. The paintings will be donated during the event to activists committed to the LGBTQ+ community in Ukraine, Russia and Georgia.
Sexuality And Nonconforming Bodies
1 July, from 5.30 pm
Pride Square
Piazza Santa Francesca Romana
Elisa Ruscio, Riccardo Onorato, Andrey Chaykin and Elisa Manici will discuss the deconstruction of the ideal of the “perfect” body that persists in mainstream culture and experience, to overcome one of the privileges reserved for such bodies: the sexual sphere.
RainbOM Yoga
30 June, 9am – 8.30pm
PAC – Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea
Via Palestro 14
RainbOM Yoga celebrates Pride with a peculiar class inside the PAC museum, with Pierluca Lenza and Elena Fanfani.
Through The Queer Eyes
27 June – 1 July
Free Entry
Alkemy
Via San Gregorio 34, Milan
The exhibition “Through The Queer Eyəs” is the result of a collaboration between the usthey NARRATIVE, a collective born to raise the voices of photographers who identify as minority, and Alkemy, a marketing agency in Milan. The usthey NARRATIVE collective was established in late 2021 in Milan. “It arises from the need to be acknowledged as a person in the photographic sector.” wrote the founders in a statement. “We aim to be an existing part of the visual art representation, we aim at expressing first-hand the issues we deal with in our daily life. We believe that by collectively joining forces, our voices can be more powerful and hopefully, can be heard and understood.” On show, photographs by Eleonora Sabet, Sara Lorusso, Chiara Glionna, Giulia Agostini, Tonio Martella, Plantation, and Alia Romagnoli. Opening at 7 pm with aperitivo and live performances.
The History of Drag Entertainment
30 June, from 9.15 pm
Piazza Lavater
Drag is a red thread within the journey of a community trying to figure out where its boundaries lie. Art, spectacle and entertainment, as well as the world of nightlife, have always kept the members of all the letters belonging to the LGBTQIA+ acronym connected. The history of this art form goes hand in hand with the battles for rights. Half a discussion and half a show will allow audiences to relive the stories of the Milan ‘en travesti’ scene, from the fabulous 1980s to the present day. With Fay and the moderation of La Trape, special guests: Croce Atroce, Lady Stretch, Lilly Love, Gianni Dettori, Miss Helen.
Pride Square 2022
30 June – 1 July
Porta Venezia
Porta Venezia is the hotspot for Pride Week. Follow the flow of people through the streets, squares, and venues of the Rainbow District, between Largo Bellintani, Piazzale Lavater and Piazza Santa Francesca Romana, for two days of celebrations and events.
Milan Pride Parade 2022
2 July, from 3 pm
Central Station
Pride Month ends with the big march, an ongoing fight for rights but also a celebration of what it means to be unique. The parade starts at the Central Station (3 pm) and ends at the Arco della Pace. Many are the guests on stage, including Italian pop idols: Baby K, Francesca Michielin, Michele Bravi, Emma Muscat, M¥SS KETA, Immanuel Casto, the Karma B, Romina Falconi, Debora Villa, Big Mama, Epoque, Martina Donna and the Drag Race Italia drag performers. This year, the presence of guests from Eastern Europe is meaningful. Speeches on stage will be given by Olena Shevchenko from Insight (Ukraine), Giorgi Tabagari from Tbilisi Pride (Georgia), and Aleksandr Voronov from Coming Out (Russia).
