Reading, talk and performance | Saturday, 3 October, 4 pm

The queer-feminist artist and activist reads from her non-fiction comic “queer stories: Vom Mut, du selbst zu sein”, self-published in 2026, in the context of our Ralf König exhibition “Süße Triebe”.

The book follows the journeys of self-discovery of six real queer* people who grew up in rural Austria. The illustrated personal experiences with topics such as coming out, discrimination, self-acceptance and much more are complemented by guest contributions from experts and a glossary. The idea for “queer stories” is rooted in Nicole’s own process of finding her way to queerness, and in the disillusionment at how strongly the subject is still treated as taboo or denied outright in the provinces. The comic is an attempt to break down prejudice and unease around queerness and to make the subject accessible to everyone.

As in her art, Nicole takes a multimedia approach to presenting “queer stories”: the reading is accompanied by a musical performance, personal insights into how the book came about, and a conversation with one of the people portrayed in it, Mitch Noah Münzer.

(*queer in terms of gender, sexual orientation and relationship form)

Nicole Salomon (she/they) is a queer-feminist musician, artist, author and activist living in Vienna. She immerses herself in art across media: the process does not always start with a brush; often a few lines write themselves, turn out to be a song and only then find expression on a canvas. Which route the art takes to reach the surface is left up to the art itself. Working through emotions is a cornerstone of Nicole’s poetry in all its forms.

Mitch Noah Münzer (he/him), 26, works at the intersection of queer-feminist cultural work, diversity management and education. At schau.Räume in Villach/Beljak, a queer-feminist art and culture association, he develops projects and educational formats on gender, queerness, migration, violence and memory, and on whose stories get told in public space. He contributed his own text to the publication “Queer-feministische Stadtgeschichten aus Villach/Beljak und Klagenfurt/Celovec”. He studied Disability & Diversity Studies; as a trans man, he brings his own path of transition and identity to public conversations about queerness.