Simon(e) van Saarloos is a writer, artistic collaborator and curator. They are the author of Against Ageism. A Queer Manifesto (2023); Take ‘Em Down. Scattered Monuments and Queer Forgetting (2021) and Playing Monogamy (2019) as well as several books in Dutch. Their writing has appeared in multiple co-edited volumes and academic journals such as Performance Philosophy Journal, Postmodern Culture, Porn Studies Journal and Trans Studies Quarterly. They also write fiction and theater. Van Saarloos is currently writing a new book for AK Press, titled Trans Despair.
Van Saarloos works as an independent curator of public programming and artistic collaborations. Recent projects include curating the queer programming for the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA 2022, 2023)), the “I want an abortion” performance in collaboration with Sara Leghissa at the 2024 Malta Biennial, contributing an artist book, GIVE PISS A CHANCE. A Willing Suspension of Consequences, at Claudia Rankine’s For Real For Real exhibition at DAADGalerie Berlin (2025).
Van Saarloos taught theory and writing s at AKV|St. Joost; the University of the Underground; KABK Den Haag; Theatre School Amsterdam; ArtEZ; University of Amsterdam; Utrecht University College; Erasmus School of Philosophy; ETH Zurich. As a PhD candidate in Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, they are interested in Black feminist engagements with quantum physics and focused on the rhetorical (im)possibility of existence without defense.
