2006 Best Gay Event

... and the GOLDEN COCK 2006 goes to: The Eighth Square at Cologne's Museum

LudwigSometimes a gay cultural event is worth more than a crowded and fashionable silly gay party. That is the case.

Proving that sex and chess have more in common than originally thought the Museum Ludwig in Cologne presents the The Eighth Square: Gender, Life and Desire in Art Since 1960, a huge exhibit exploring marginal sexuality, or as Judy B might say, the "reappropriation of the feminine."

The title of the show comes from a rule in chess, which stipulates:
When a pawn in a chess match reaches the eighth square on the far side of the board, the player can swap him for a piece of his or her choice. So the pawn - a lowly foot soldier - can transform into a queen, a powerless figure into the epitome of power, a man into a woman.

The show includes over 250 works by over 80 artists including such stars of track and field like Nan Goldin, Tracey Moffatt, Peter Hujar, Lucas Samaras, and Diane Arbus, plus an orgy full of lesser known though no less respected artists