Cruising Archaeology II: Eurotrash

'Cruising Archaeology', which shares its name with the Instagram account @cruisingarchaeology, is a carefully curated project that sees artists (who remain anonymous) reconstitute and repurpose items that have been discarded in popular cruising locations around London into cultural memorabilia. With archaeology as its starting point, more than 200 distinct items serve as a testament to the frequently unseen sexual behaviour in addition to uncovering and examining via a material culture lens the kinds of sex and pleasure that occur in cruising places. 

Cruising is defined as the pursuit of private sexual encounters in a variety of public settings. This usually includes parking lots, green spaces, public restrooms, forests, and more.  It's still a mostly male-only, clandestine, and stigmatized sexual behavior. Even if the popularity of dating apps and gentrification have contributed to the growth in cruising, cruising is still a common sexual practice. 

This new edition expands across European cities including Berlin, Athens, Dublin, Barcelona, and Paris, exploring diverse cruising sites - from woodland areas and public toilets to gardens, beaches, and clubs. As with the first volume, it combines scanned ephemera with critical writing that situates cruising within urban and natural landscapes.  Contributors include Marc Svensson (You Are Loved), Mati Klitgård (Gay Consent.Lab), Stav B, Jordan Tannahill, Prem Sahib, and João Florêncio, addressing themes of chemsex, consent, erasure, and queer spatial histories.

This soft cover book is designed to fit in your pocket so that you may use it as a cruiser's nu-hunter's guide.

SMUT Press
Softcover
Edition of 800
200 pages
125 × 175 mm