Kink Out is a bi-coastal collective that unites people of diverse identities with lived experience in BDSM culture through art, activism, community organizing, and conversation. With KINK OUT: EPHEMERA, a month-long residency, the collective transforms MOCA’s WAREHOUSE into an active archive for those who live and love differently. Drawing on physical and oral histories the residency brings together The Carter /Johnson Library and Collection, a compilation of printed material which celebrates sexuality from the 1700’s to the present day, and a regular schedule of performances, panels, workshops, and community events, to explore the intersection between contemporary art, activism, and leather, kink, BDSM, and sex worker communities.
Throughout the residency Tuesdays are reserved for local community groups and activists to gather and learn from one another. Affinity Tuesdays feature harm reduction round table sessions; free NARCAN and CPR training; self defense demonstrations; and local party promoters and organizers sharing strategies on how to keep parties and concerts safe and welcoming.
Featured participants and organizations include End Overdose, Olivia Tai and Shelly Badal (Signal and Ostbanhof), SWOP LA, Trans Defense Fund, and Obsidian.
KINK OUT: EPHEMERA is co-organized with kd diamond and Daphne aka EthicalDrvgs in collaboration with The Carter/Johnson Library and Collection.
KINK OUT: EPHEMERA contains sexually explicit content. Parents should use discretion.
End Overdose is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in Los Angeles working to end drug-related overdose
Our solution is to educate and train individuals and at-risk populations on how and when to intervene during a suspected overdose, as well as make resources that prevent overdose-related deaths accessible to everyone. 40% of overdose deaths could have been prevented if someone present knew how and when to intervene. No one else has to die. https://endoverdose.net/
Olivia Tai is a certified Emergency Medical Technician, working primarily with The Party by Ostbahnhof and its sister raves to pioneer a new standard of rave safety and emergency response for the DTLA queer & trans underground nightlife. She studied pre-med Biological Sciences at Cornell University, currently works within the rock ’n’ roll industry to premiere comprehensive healthcare and coverage for touring professionals, and is pursuing an MD/MBA combined degree. As a member of GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality, she is dedicated to LGBTQIA+ advocacy for her community and healthcare as a human right.
Shelly Badal is an artist and event organizer based in Los Angeles. She works within a sensory practice to cultivate relatedness and presence via performance, sound, language, visual media, and academic research. As a Lead Organizer for the Los Angeles Nightlife Alliance from 2018 to 2020, she and dedicated collaborators developed equitable management approaches and created a suite of safety resources, educational events, and harm reduction training with partner orgs to implement globally-accepted best practices. She produced events for the community-oriented, interdisciplinary art space Vocal Warehouse and currently works with parties such as Ostbahnhof and Signal.
SWOPLA - Sex Workers Outreach Project Los Angeles. SWOPLA is a peer support organization, run by sex workers and for sex workers. Their mission is to pursue our human rights to bodily autonomy, racial and social justice, and mutual liberation through outreach, education, mutual aid and political advocacy.
Since 2018, SWOPLA has connected to street based sex workers through monthly outreach strolls, where they distribute cash, condoms, and other harm reduction supplies and personal care items while offering connections to services, including bi-weekly sex worker peer support group, and community building events, such as a New Years Eve party to celebrate successful efforts to decriminalize “loitering with intent to commit prostitution” (SB 357), and a new sex worker parents’ day, “Munchkins”.
Kink Out brings intersecting communities together. An ever-evolving container, Kink Out is a performance platform, ritual space, screening room, art collaboration, panel discussion, BDSM club, rally, call to action, tattoo studio, art auction, and fundraiser for communities most affected by the injustice of censorship, criminalization, and demonization of their lives and livelihoods.
Daphne aka EthicalDrvgs is a multidisciplinary artist most known for visual art and immersive performance art experiences. Her performance work has centered around the endurance of the divine feminine form and often features different variations of live body modifications. Her work centers the necessity of decriminalization and the advocacy of sex workers, often using visuals to show the unseen moments of the lives of sexworkers, specifically working trans girls, in order to reveal the aspects of their lives that many don’t get to see unless involved intimately. You can catch Daphne performing throughout LA either at shows or as a DJ.
kd diamond is a local tattoo artist, illustrator, and community organizer. One of the founding members of the Kink Out collective, diamond primarily uses her tattooing and art as methods to connect and engage community and politic. She’s illustrated over a dozen books about sex, gender, and sexuality. diamond recently opened Commonground Studio, a queer tattoo shop in Cypress Park.
The Carter/Johnson Library and Collection is a collective history of the communities who have chosen to live and love differently and features over 15,000 books (both fiction and non-fiction), periodicals, posters and other art, newsletters, and ephemera documenting the history of SM/Leather/Kink from early drawings documenting human sexuality to the present day. As the only library of its kind, it is our responsibility to let these communities know that their history is rich and long. The Library is designed to let people see it, hold it, read it and know it.
Wonmi’s WAREHOUSE Programs is organized by Alex Sloane, Associate Curator, and is produced by Amelia Charter, Producer of Performance and Programs with Michele Huizar, Programming Assistant, The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles.
Wonmi's WAREHOUSE Programs is founded by Wonmi & Kihong Kwon and Family.
