This is a sponsored interview in partnership with Tecovas.
Laura Gutiérrez is busy. She is the artistic director for OUTsider Fest, a University of Texas at Austin associate professor in Latinx Studies in the College of Liberal Arts, and associate dean in the College of Fine Arts. We caught up with Gutiérrez about her work in Austin.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Why does your work matter to Austin?
“I'm able to have a research practice that allows me to be beyond the walls of the university confines and allows me to be very much engaged with what's going on in the local scene, particularly in the art scene, of course.
… Specifically in Latinx studies, I focus on aesthetics whether it's performance or visual arts. I'm able to use a lot of my research and my knowledge on that to be able to work and collaborate and partner with different art organizations.”
How has OUTsider Fest changed over the last 11 years?
“(OUTsider Fest at the beginning) was about mixing the different disciplines under the large rubric of queer and trans art. That vision is what started OUTsider Fest and made it unique, right?”
Since then, Gutiérrez says, “There has been a growth in mainstream culture to quote unquote accept queer and trans artists. We know politically that is not the case.”
“OUTsider is still interested in what mainstream culture is not interested in, like really thinking about the misfits (and) freaks. I still think that there’s a lot of outsiders outside of mainstream culture where mainstream culture would not be able to deal with the types of performances that we have featured throughout the years.”
We’ve been seeing a lot of people saying that rest is revolutionary. As a queer, brown woman, what do you do for rest in Austin?
“I love to walk and I was mostly alone, but sometimes with friends. If there’s a path by a river, that’s my go-to place. I also turn off by just sitting on the couch and telling myself, ‘ Rest, rest, rest. Rest time is resistance.’”
