Queer as a Queer Guided Tour

In this article I focus on the queer guided tours held in three publicly funded museums which form the Finnish National Gallery. In my analysis I alternate between my reconstructions of the tour guide’s narration during each respective tour, and my interpretative reading of it. I am interested in seeing how queer was defined and put into practice by each of the different tour guides. On the one hand, I pay attention to the queer-informed content of the tour; while on the other, I am also curious to see whether and how queer was translated into the pedagogies of the guiding practices themselves. By doing so, I hope to illuminate the different ways in which queer, both as a theoretical and political concept, may be put into practice in mainstream museums, and the possible ramifications of this for both the guiding practices and the positioning of the visitors.