This Book Explores The Archaeology of Dublin’s Cruising Culture
Words: Izzy Copestake
Cruising Archaeology II: Eurotrash is the next release from SMUT, a London based (but Irish originated) independent queer publisher founded in 2022 Jack Scollard and Jordan Hearns. The project was born from anonymous instagram account @cruisingarcheology, and similarly treats cruising spots across Europe as archeology sites, where found objects from these sites are scanned and featured in the publication.
The new publication builds on the success of Cruising Archeology, which focussed on cruising spots solely in London. Cruising Archaeology II: Eurotrash takes the initial idea to the rest of Europe, focussing on woodland areas, public toilets, palatial gardens, sex clubs and beaches across Berlin, Athens, Dublin, Barcelona and Paris. Through the variety of locations featured, SMUT Press have used the book to highlight the resilient and inventive forms that cruising assumes in response to the infrastructure of the city.
The book also pairs the scans of found objects with extracts of writing which contextualise, complicate, and historicise cruising’s material traces. Featured texts include an urgent focus on chemsex and intimacy through interviews with Marc Svensson of You Are Loved, a London-based harm reduction initiative, and with Mati Klitgård of Gay Consent.Lab in Berlin. Other contributors include Stav B, whose piece addresses the persistent erasure of lesbian cruising spaces, and Prem Sahib’s insert ‘Vape’, which responds to the complicated relationship between the digital and the physical.
The Dublin launch of the publication will be on May 28th in Dublin’s only gay male sauna, The Boilerhouse in Temple Bar, but open to everyone to attend.
Speaking about the choice of location, Jack told District, “The sauna is Dublin’s only gay male sauna and has been a critical community hub since it opened in 1998. The launch at this space is intended as a celebration of these spaces and the culture that surrounds them, and a deliberate challenge to conventional ideas of cultural legitimacy in questioning why recognition is often reserved for certain institutions while others are excluded.”
“The launch at this space is intended as a celebration of these spaces and the culture that surrounds them, and a deliberate challenge to conventional ideas of cultural legitimacy in questioning why recognition is often reserved for certain institutions while others are excluded.”
The publication retains the pocket-sized paperback format of the first edition, with the book’s design researched and assembled by designer John Philip Sage.
