Scotland + Venice: Bugarin + Castle

For artist duo Bugarin + Castle, narrative unfolds not in a single scene, but in a carnival-like procession of subversion and defiance.

Working across architecture, moving image, sculpture, and performance, their practice draws vibrant connections between queer and trans lives in Scotland and in regions as diverse as Southeast Asia and Northern Europe. Their work focuses on shared resonances as well as difference, shaped by personal histories and diasporic ties.

From Scottish castles to Filipino cemeteries, Bugarin + Castle explore overlapping geographies and time periods in a contemporary queer and trans reimagining of public shaming rituals. Their project, Shame Parade, draws on centuries-old European practices, known as rough music, charivari, and scampanate, where spectacle, sound, and costume were used to discipline social transgressors.

Their work avoids easy conclusions. Instead, they revisit these parades through a rich archive of historical and contemporary references. From fourteenth-century court transcripts and satirical eighteenth-century engravings to karaoke ballads, medieval armour and Filipino Transport Art, they build a vivid, time-looped world where shame becomes unstable, playful, and charged.