Gender is Over is a story about Warsaw's queer art scene at the turn of the 2010s and 2020s, written from the inside.
The book illustrates how queerness gradually began to enter the cultural mainstream, intertwining with the realities of rising nationalism and the global queer revolution. It blends reportage with a touch of autofiction, where the language of art history meets the language of body and affect, and subversive energy mixes with normative everyday life. The publication not only presents a socio-cultural transformation from an insider's perspective but also takes the reader on an intimate journey through the protagonist's experiences. Her adventures, full of irony and subversion, unfold at the intersection of the working class and the world of art, cinema, and theater. Gender is Over is about shedding old identifications, exploring systemic loopholes, and reclaiming freedom in a process of constant transformation. In this narrative, queer no longer appears as a marginalized phenomenon, but as a binding agent that, thanks to its fluid and enigmatic nature, surprisingly reshapes the social fabric.
Filipka Rutkowska (she/he/they, born 1991 in Warsaw) is a gender-liminal performance artist and art historian who transforms bodies and objects into ephemeral personae, challenging identity norms through a queer baroque and absurd lens. Her performances navigate taboos of sexuality and class, incorporating installations that archive queer knowledge derived from personal rituals. Rutkowska's work has been presented at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and the Gothenburg Biennale. She has also acted in the films of Małgorzata Szumowska, Łukasz Ronduda, and Alex Baczyński-Jenkins. Since 2023, she has written "Filipka and the Big City" for Vogue Poland, a column offering a queer perspective on contemporary life.
