Dr. Christoph Julian von Borell du Vernay works at the Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at TU Dresden. In teaching and research, he deals, among other things, with the topics of gender and sexuality. Together with pedagogue Anne Lenk and artist Lisa Hoffmann, he is now curating the interactive exhibition "Revealing Gender" with workshops on bodies, spaces and gender, for which he was awarded the “Förderpreis zur Wissenschaftskommunikation of the Förderverein Psychologie an der TU Dresden e.V.”. The exhibition as well as the accompanying workshops will take place from November 20 to 27 at the Hole of Fame in Dresden's Neustadt.

Clinical psychology is currently confronted with an increase in cases of young people with gender dysphoria, that is, people who experience an incongruence between their experienced and their assigned gender. This numerical increase is accompanied by current social and political discourses, such as the reformation of the transsexual law into a self-determination law. In the wake of these developments, Christoph Julian von Borell du Vernay, who is often simply called Juli, offered an elective seminar on gender dysphoria for the first time in the summer semester of 2022 in the master's program in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at TU Dresden.

"The topic has led to many interesting conversations and discussions in the seminar and has also shown in which areas we still need to catch up scientifically and socially to address the concerns of people with gender dysphoria. Therefore, together with student theses, we want to establish research on gender dysphoria at the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy in the future. In parallel, I would like to bring psychological knowledge into society and have therefore conceived the interactive exhibition "Revealing Gender" with several cooperation partners. In the exhibition, we want to make psychological knowledge about the development of gender identity, as well as the experience in supporting people with gender dysphoria, tangible for a diverse audience in public space."

For this participatory idea, Juli von Borell du Vernay was honored with the Förderpreis zur Wissenschaftskommunikation of the Förderverein Psychologie an der TU Dresden e.V., for which he received prize money of 2,000 euros to realize the project.

REVEALING GENDER at a glance:

• Location: Hole of Fame, Königsbrücker Str. 39, 01099 Dresden, Germany
• Opening hours: Nov. 20 - Nov. 27, 2022 - 12 p.m. - 5 p.m., Gender Lab.

Workshops:

Kick-off workshop - "What's gender got to do with it?" – 11/20/2022 - 2pm-4pm.

Gender Talk I - "Experiential Space" - 11/20/2022 - 4pm onwards.

Gender Talk II - "The Toilet Debate" - 11/24/2022 - 6 p.m.

Reveal Party - Performance - 27.11.2022 - 3 p.m.

Admission is free.

Description:

Gender Lab
How is gender created and how do we experience it? What does it have to do with our bodies? And how does it shape our experiential spaces? In the Gender Lab, visitors have the opportunity to find their own answers to these and other questions. They are supported by various stations in which artistic and scientific positions on body and gender merge. The resulting answers will in turn be incorporated into a continuously evolving exhibition and its exhibits.

Kick-off workshop - "What's gender got to do with it?"
The curators and artists will drop the exhibition's wrappings and give an interdisciplinary introduction to queer-theoretical, pedagogical, aesthetic, and psychological perspectives on the body, gender, and related experiential spaces in the workshop.

Gender Talk I - "Experiential Space"
We discuss together with all interested people where we encounter gender in everyday life. Which structural and psychological barriers give us protection, which ones do we want to tear down in the future? On the side there will be cake, snacks and warm drinks. Since very personal and also stressful experiences may be shared here, we ask all participants for an emphatic and confidential basic attitude.

Gender Talk II - "The Toilet Debate”
After a substantive introduction, we would like to discuss the role of gender in the use of toilets / washrooms in cooperation with students from TU Dresden. Topics will include which solutions have already been found for a gender-sensitive provision of toilets, what has to be considered legally, what trans*-critical positions and fears heat up about and how we can counter them.

Reveal Party - Performance
What and who is revealed when reflecting on gender in 2022? We celebrate the closing of the exhibition and present the resulting works and insights of an interactive week with a performance. The darker it gets, the more the champagne corks and crown caps pop on the floor.

Media inquries:

Juli von Borell du Vernay
Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy
TU Dresden
Email:
Tel. +49 351 463-36956