Autumn Jean Cairns, curator of the local queer variety show, Collective Disorder, has just put
on her eleventh show at the Red Gate Arts Society in Vancouver. I had the opportunity to
contact Cairns to gain insight into her inspirations, passions, and future plans for the show.

When asked about her inspirations behind the show Disorder, Carins recalls three pivotal life
events, all occurring at the beginning of 2020 and the start of the COVID pandemic: “I
shifted my artistic practice from painting to performance, I began transitioning, and then
suddenly, COVID shut everything down.” In limbo between “bursting with creative energy”
and being stuck indoors, Cairns put her creative career on hold. A year later, upon
immigrating to Canada, she quickly became “really involved in the queer DIY music scene”
and realized that “underground music and performance art have quite a lot in common," so
she began creating Disorder—"a live show blending queer performance art and noise.” Once
the first Disorder show was a success, Carins realized how a “maximalist approach” to the
show was what made it special. Bringing together an array of artists all known for widely
different crafts, such as drag, comedy, poetry, and music, she explains, “can create this
strange and beautiful moment of connection that is unlike anything else.”

Every Disorder show effectively highlights queer and diverse artists. Carins explains, when
she curates shows, that she tries to “bring together artists from different disciplines whose
work can synergize together” to let the audience experience a refreshing range of “artistic
themes and emotions.” While queer joy is an important and featured feeling, she ensures she
explores queer rage, grief, and lust because she believes that “there's something special about
a lineup that can speak to all of them together.” During her process of curating the show,
Cairns always reaches out and prioritizes Black, Indigenous, and POC performers: “As a
white trans woman, I am always trying to do better as an organizer to platform the
unparalleled talent of queer, trans, and Two-Spirit BIPOC artists.” As a variety show,
Disorder is about the “intersectionality of the people who create it.”

The newest show, Disorder XI, came at a time of significant changes in Carins’ personal life:
“As a recent divorcee, the past several months have been a blend of emotions.” Taking these
new emotions as inspiration, Cairns planned the show to take place during Pride Weekend,
aiming it to be “a spectacle of both queer existence and queer resistance.” For Carins’ own
performance in the show, she collaborated with jazz drummer Morgan Sidky and created a
spoken word piece focused on, she explains, “relearning how to embrace my lesbian
sexuality and what it means to have a summer fling.” Themes of rebirth and love illustrated
the show, and the rest of the lineup quickly fell into place. Cairns says, "I wanted artists who
ran the gamut from whimsical and sexy to defiant and hopeful, and I could not be more
thrilled with just how much the other performers brought these energies to the stage.”

For the future of Collective Disorder, Carins hopes to find the right collaborators to expand it
into a “larger organization.” Her goals are to continue to uplift and give voice to
underrepresented queer and diverse artists and obtain support for new events that “take risks,
experiment, and collaborate in new and exciting ways across media and genre.”

Cairns concludes: “I'm already working on Disorder XII—keep an eye out for an
announcement soon!”

Follow Collective Disorder on Instagram to find out more about dates and events and for any
inquiries.

By: Nejdana Houshyar