What does it mean to occupy spaces where there is seemingly not room for everyone? How can such an occupation give rise to new places that protect minorities and give them a sense of community and acceptance? With their performances on theatre stages and in clubs as well as on public streets, the Berlin-based drag and performance collective House of Living Colors creates spaces dedicated specifically to racialised people within the queer community. Agnieszka Roguski asks Bad Puppy, who is a member of the collective, about the necessity, quality and consequences of safe spaces within the mainstream, but also within already marginalised communities – and the joy that can come with it.

House of Living Colors was founded in Berlin in January 2018 and is an open drag, performance and curatorial collective, particularly for queer, trans, black, indigenous and people of color (QTBIPOC). Through training in various disciplines, they explore gender performance and discourse within a club and theatre context. The house was created after several members experienced poor treatment and exclusion from venues and organisations within the mainstream queer community in Berlin. Their passion is to curate safer spaces that center QTBIPOC and hold an intersectional ideology of inclusion. They want their community to experience joy, love and acceptance when they enter spaces or witness performances by House of Living Colors.

Bad Puppy is a trans femme creature from Iztapalapa (a district of Mexico City), that is living for a couple of years in Berlin. Their work floats around creating spaces for QTBPIOC, decolonization and clubbing. They have been part of House of Living Colours since the early beginnings of the birth of the house. Bad Puppy has collectively organized spaces and parties for and by trans* and non binary from the global south, building networks around other similar movements, people and ideas all over the world.