Every culture defines itself by what it is not; Every definition of “human” is delineated by what is considered inhuman, animalic, monstrous.

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Was European humanism a sleight of hand? It granted universal rights to all humans, but its definition of “human” excluded women, people of color, queer and trans people, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, indigenous peoples, nomads, Roma, Jews, … all of whom could still be enslaved, abused, killed or raped, depending on weather and whim.

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For those of us who were excluded from the category of human, in our place were left phantom images: Caricatures of who we are – distorted smears of what we do, think, feel and dream of. Exotic, funny, grotesque, yet also tempting and seductive, this imagery marks humanity’s fringes and definitive border.

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It is only in the last few decades that some of us who did not originally make the cut, have been given conditional approval as “fully human”. But this development is limited to certain classes in certain parts of the world: Inclusion is still exceptional. Even where our human status is enshrined in law, it is continuously debated, always suspect.

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Half-humans, then? Half phantoms of the old world, we trod on.

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For us halflings, one way to inject ourselves into the human world, is to insist on the human-like quality of our lived experiences: To showcase my specific life and the lives of people just like me; To underline my identifiable qualities as human-adjacent; To humanize my identity. Many people are employing this strategy within arts and politics, raising awareness of certain aspects of, say, queer life, or life as a person of color, or as a woman. This is reductive, yet in many cases effective: Humans proper relish the idea of others aspiring to be just like them.

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This approach does however come with risk: Isolating ourselves within our identities, insisting on just my group’s human-likeness, risks pushing others even further away from the realm of acceptability. And removing ourselves from people who do not share our identity, but who share our experiences as non-human – people who could be our allies, and from whom we could learn – is counter-productive and potentially violent. What if we looked beyond the specifics of personal identity? What if we built trans-identity alliances? This is not a denial of the specificity and significance of identity issues, but signals a wish to explore how they are linked, both to each other and to the overall structure of politico-economic power.

 

All of us who have been actively held down by historical and current power hegemonies; Surely, we have a thing or two in common? At any rate: United, we are not a minority. United, we are harder to depict and frame.

 

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Porto, Portugal is a city deeply marked by phantom imagery. With melancholic comportment, it is wearing the riches and scars of both colonization and colonizing, dictatorship, volatile democracy and various religious doctrines. In its heart, on a busy pedestrian street, lies Half-human House.

 

It is a small house with space to sleep five, a communal room, a terrace, and a derelict vegetable store repurposed as a small atelier and performance/exhibition space.

 

 

Half-Human House is a place for intersectional, dialogue-based explorations. It is an attempt to create an arena for artists, writers and thinkers whose interests stretch beyond personal identity, beyond the likeness of me, and beyond dreams of normalcy: In essence, artists who are curious about the Other. Any idea or exploration seeking communication and alliance building across identical divides, is most welcome here.

 

Phantom Center is a non-profit initiative, and residency stays are free. We do however encourage a donation to our travel fund, which will be used exclusively to cover travel costs for artists from low-income countries or situations. 

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Do you have questions or comments, or are you working on something that you think would fit this bill? Please get in touch with a short description of yourself and your project. Come as you are – we are looking forward to hearing from you!