The 19th edition of the **Jerk Off 2026** festival will take place from October 1 to October 10, 2026. Ten partner cultural venues across Paris and the surrounding petite couronne will host more than sixteen diverse artistic proposals, ranging from dance and theater to electronic music, literature, and visual arts. In a political climate marked by the rise of reactionary rhetoric, the fragilization of associations, and the gradual disappearance of queer social spaces, the festival aims more than ever to be a bastion of kindness, listening, and inclusivity. The stated objective remains unchanged: to build unshakable spaces of meeting, transmission, and freedom in the face of current political and societal pressures. The festival will open on Thursday, October 1, at the Théâtre de l'étoile du nord (18th arr.) with the play La Demande d'asile, written and choreographed by Nicolas Barry (Ensemble Facture). Performed by Nangaline Gomis and Sophie Billon, this dance-theater work plunges the audience into the absurdity of administrative procedures and the psychological violence of interviews conducted by the OFPRA, particularly targeting persecutions related to sexual orientation. The evening will continue with a concert by the artist oXni, "object X not identified," who combines incisive rap, dark-pop, and DIY aesthetics. Accompanied on stage by keyboardist JJ Ann, oXni will perform tracks from his second album, Revue de Peste, as well as his collection Chaoscène published by Rotolux. The following day, Friday, October 2, the festival will take place at the bookstore Les Mots à la Bouche (11th arr.) for the launch and dedications of the children's book Bouche cousue by Thibaut Galis, an intimate work exploring the body and emotion. At the same time, Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers (93) will host the evening "D'une manière ou d'une autre," programmed by Lucie Camous. This will associate the collective writing workshop "Nous, exigeons" — led by Anouk Chatellier and Camille Cornu — and a carte blanche to the queer and crip artist No Anger. The latter will present unpublished texts questioning the place of disabled and deviant bodies in relation to dominant imaginaries. The night will continue at the Point Éphémère (10th arr.) with an after party marking the official launch of the Flinta Babecore Agency, driven by the collective Dyketopia, offering a club, techno, baile funk, and jungle platform. On Saturday, October 3, Le Générateur de Gentilly (94) will vibrate to the rhythm of the project Un Olivier ni d'Orient ni d'Occident, imagined by Chams Barkaoui and Amenallah Atrous (Mamou) on a proposal by curator Inès Geoffroy. Within the framework of the Mediterranean Season 2026, this trans-Mediterranean artistic performance reinterprets Sufi rituals through a queer and decentered reading, questioning the spiritual legacies of Islam. On Sunday, October 4, the MAC VAL (Musée d'art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, in Vitry-sur-Seine) will offer a double immersion. First through a guided tour of the monumental exhibition Ici grand ouvert by the artist-researcher SMITH, followed by the musical creation Transition Pieces, a post-folk and DIY oratorio led by Hot Bodies (Gérald Arev Kurdian). This musical cycle questions the transformations of bodies, identities, and contemporary technologies. On Tuesday, October 6, the bar Les Souffleuses (4th arr.) will host a public recording of the podcast Le Masque et la Plume dans le Cul, hosted by Marguerite du Trash and Babouchka Babouche. The show will honor the monumental work of Yvette Néliaz, alias Dame Pipi, whose photographic and videographic archives of alternative nightlife from the 2000s have just been published under the title damepipi.tv – Une archéologie du présent (JBE Books / École Duperré). On Wednesdays, October 7 and 8, the Centre culturel suisse (3rd arr.) will partner with the festival for a double proposal. On one hand, a literary meeting with writer Mathias Howald around the collective work Racontons-nous : récits de joie queer (Paulette Éditrice), the result of intergenerational writing workshops. On the other hand, a Situational Performance bringing together dancer and choreographer Catol Teixeira and multidisciplinary artist Chaos Clay, exploring movement as an act of listening and memorial reminiscence. On Friday, October 9, at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (4th arr.), the documentary performance Dirty Closets by Marianne Chargois and Jamal Phoenix will dissect economic-sexual exchanges in colonial and neocolonial contexts, questioning filiations in the Antilles and in former Indochina as well as the struggles of sex workers and workers. Finally, on Saturday, October 10, the festival will end in an apotheosis. Artist Véronique Hubert will present L'horizon est une fissure at The Window (10th arr.), transforming the site's metal curtain into a portal to an utopian territory. In the evening, La Marbrerie in Montreuil (93) will host the grand neo-traditional cabaret Pins & Needles, orchestrated by Mona LaDoll, which fuses the heritage of freak-shows and queer claims, preceded by an opening act by Leon Marič titled Kiss me, inspired by the Slovenian folkloric tradition of pozvačin.