Cooper Robinson

Welcome to Carnalval! The year is 2035, and severe financial decline and cost of living crises have brought about the mass closure of independently-owned queer bars and clubs. With no space of their own to gather, the queer folx of London took matters into their own hands.

Cue the foundation of RetroQueer: a community-based collective of queers formed in 2029 to carve out spaces within the abundance of abandoned real estate using the time-honored historical practice of "cruising:" soliciting sex anonymously in public spaces through a system of coded verbal and physical signals or objects.

In the hyper-digitalized world of 2035, face-to-face socialization has become such a rarity that without bars and nightclubs as spatial social aides to encourage it, most queers feel comfortable socializing only through the interface of an app. This loss of in-person socialization practices, combined with the absence of queer spaces to encourage gathering, has led to a profound sense of isolation for LGBTQIA+ people.

RetroQueer's use of the historical practice of cruising to reclaim spaces within London serves the dual purpose of reactivating these vacant spaces and re-introducing ways of practicing intimacy in-person, without any digital barrier. It asks: is it possible to use analysis of previous examples of “cruising spaces” to produce a new iteration of queer space(s) created outside a capitalistic framework?

The crown jewel in RetroQueer's network of reclaimed spaces is undisputedly Carnalval, a fun-fair style cruising festival housed within the old Billingsgate Fish Market. RetroQueer selected this location both for it's spatial parallels to the west-side piers in Manhattan, a once-popular cruising locale, and for it's adjacency to the entirely abandoned neighborhood of Canary Wharf.

Free for prying eyes of neighbors or law enforcement, RetroQueer's volunteer-based team of builders were able to reuse market materials (steel box channels, plastic crates, walk-in freezers, corrugated steel, plastic crates, etc.) to create an exuberant, celebratory space which both memorializes and celebrates the practice of cruising while simultaneously creating a space for the queers of London to safely gather, create, and cruise.

The community of RetroQueer officially claims the abandoned site of the Billingsgate Fish Market as its own, with the clear directive to create a space for all queers to gather in light of the city's failing to do so through conventional means.

In the wake of the Great Crash of 2025, we understand that independent queer businesses can no longer afford to operate within London. To address this issue, we as a collective will take the initiative to form our own space, made by queers for queers.

We will use the historic, cultural practice of cruising as a means of both staking claim over the marketplace and helping reintroduce time-tested techniques for in-person intimacy within a queer community that today finds itself completely isolated from it's past and itself by complete dependency on technology for socialization.

What follows is a documentation of the formation of RetroQueer, and the construction and operation of the market through a series of commemorative postcards, news artifacts, and film photos.

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RetroQueer's First Guerrilla Recruitment Flyer – This artifact shows one of RetroQueer's first printed recruitment flyers. Hidden tucked into newspapers, the flyer containers a message containing details for the first meeting's time and location on the legs of the two naked models shown. Though now visible, the flyer originally would have come with clothes inked on the male models covering this message, a technique borrowed from vintage adult male magazines. Only in-the-know individuals would have known to scratch off this ink and reveal the hidden text

RetroQueer's Second Guerrilla Recruitment Flyer – This artifact shows RetroQueer's second guerrilla flyer. Again borrowing from the graphic techniques of vintage adult men's magazines, this flyer is disguised as a classifieds page from the long-defunct Him Magazine. A time capsule in itself, the classifieds page contains a segment at the bottom sharing all known methods of contracting HIV back in 1988 (the date of it was published). RetroQueer placed information about its new center of operations at Billingsgate market within one of the classified ads

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New York Times, January 14th, 2025 Edition – This copy of the New York Times from the historic records of RetroQueer is the edition that first reported on the "Great Collapse" of 2025, which marked the failure of several cornerstone international banks, such as JP Morgan, Deutsche Banks, Goldman Sachs, and HSBC. These first articles report on how the collapse particularly devastated the Canary Wharf neighborhood, which being largely based around the banking industry, soon became entirely vacant following the crash.

The Guardian, May 18th, 2029 Edition – Another news artifact from the records of RetroQueer. This time an issue of "The Guardian" circa May 18th, 2029. This issue details how Canary Wharf gradually became entirely vacant post-2025 Collapse by 2029, including the Billingsgate Fish Market which later came to be the site where "Carnalval" now stands. This issue is of particular interest as it was the first newspaper in which the second guerrilla flyer was hidden and distributed in.

Daily Mail, September 5th, 2030 Edition – This final news artifact, a copy of Daily Mail, circa September 5th, 2030, is of particular interest. This marks the first official report on the beginnings of the construction of "Carnalval" in a major news publication. The story was originally reported as suspicious 'construction noises' from within Billingsgate Market. Within the coming five years all of the attractions you now see at "Carnalval" would be constructed at the market using recycled structural materials and market refuse.

Map of Canary Wharf – This map shows the location of Billingsgate Market in relation to Canary Wharf, the old underground connection locations, and the locations of the many business and financial businesses which used to operate within the neighborhood before the Great Collapse. Within four years of the financial collapse, all financial institutions shown on the map had folded and abandoned their offices.

Micks Eel Supply – Film photos of the old Billingsgate Fish Market before it's closure in 2025

Closing Day, 2025 – Photo artifacts from the Fish Market's last day of operation.

Closing Day 2 – Photo artifacts from the Fish Market's last day of its operation.

Closing Day 3 – Photo artifacts from the Fish Market's last day of operation.

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Carnalval Pontoon Bridge Postcard, 2035 – This commemorative "Carnalval" postcard was produced to celebrate and advertise the official completion of the Pontoon Bridge, which connects "Carnalval" to Canary Wharf over the North Dock Wharf. Completion of this structure allowed more easy access to the fair, and marked the first mainstream, non-guerrilla or word-of-mouth advertising campaign of "Carnalval." The iconic "Ride-it-Slide-it" can be seen in the left background.

Carnalval Entrance, 2034 – This commemorative Carnalval Postcard illustrates the entrance to the fair, circa 2034, as well as the periphery of the "Men's Pond" attraction, a site-specific recreation the Highgate Men's Pond, a now-defunct-once-popular cruising spot. Visitors can recreate this piece of London's queer history right here at "Carnalval!"

Token Gate, 2031 – This commemorative Carnalval Postcard shows the token gate, circa 2031. Created so that visitors to "Carnalval" can exchange their cash for the much more stable, "Carnalval" specific token currency, displayed on the lower left of the Post Card. This card also illustrates Richard, Carnalval's infamous gate machine. As shown, after inserting your entrance fee in tokens, Richard raises his arm and you're able to walk underneath his fishing pole and into the fairground.

First Vista, 2035 – This commemorative Carnalval Postcard depicts the view directly over the Token Gate into the main axis of the fair, circa 2035. At this point, all the attractions now available in the market were complete, such as the famous "Cottage" seen in the left foreground: a fairground-veneer-style recreation of the prototypical English-cottage style public bathrooms prevalent around London. Use of these restrooms as popular cruising spots in the 50s and 60s gave rise to the term "cottaging."

View from Yeti Scaffolding, 2034 – A commemorative Carnalval Postcard illustrating the view from the scaffolding on top of "The Yeti", the market's sauna space created from a reused walk-in freezer, circa 2034. Also visible to the left over the horns of the yeti is the entrance to "The Locker Room," another popular "Carnalval" attraction. This recreation of a locker room has glory holes and handles for support, visible between the horns of the yeti. This detail is recreated from "Chariots," another once-popular London cruising space.

Carnalval Completed, 2034 – This commemorative Carnalval Postcard shows the the completion of all major rides within the fair, circa 2034. The following year would mark the addition of the Pontoon Bridge, and the "hard public" launch of the fair. Visible in the lower left of the market interior is "The Cemetery:" a recreation of Abney Cemetery and its Mortuary Chapel, complete with "His Glory" confessional booths (visible towards the cemetery's rear) which are naturally fitted with glory holes.

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Market Drinks – Film photos of the early days of the market, showing people adopting the traditional cruising signaling technique of the handkerchief code. Also visible is one of the classic "market stools," created from recycled steel box channels and plastic crates from the fish market.

Market Drinks 2 – A photo of the early days of the market with people gathering in-person over drinks, often marking the first face-to-face queer-only social interaction many individuals depicted had had in years. Wheat-pasted ads for the "Uhaul Dyke Rescue" service are visible next to a RetroQueer manifesto.

Market Drinks 3 – This film photo, circa 2031, shows one queer introducing another to "poppers" or amyl nitrite, a time-honored rite of passage for many queers. This substance was originally produced to treat hypertension, but later became popular among gay men. Producing a distinct head-rush after being deeply inhaled through the nostril (as shown). It was additionally used as a means of relaxing the muscles of the anus before sex.

Dark Room / Freezer – This film photo shows one of the market's first attractions to open: the Dark Room. The space was retrofitted from an old walk-in freezer.

Medium:

35mm Film

Cruising Memorial – This image shows the "Cruising Memorial," a site-specific artwork composed of a series of images printed directly on to a section of tiled wall. The 15cm x 15cm tiles were picked as a medium in order to evoke the materiality of the public restroom, a prototypical cruising space. The tile images are a mix of objects used by cruisers to identify one another or signal interest intermixed with images of hyacinths and lavender, two flowers of notable queer significance.

Medium:

Tile

Size:

75cm x 75cm

Cooper Robinson

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Royal College of Art