Curator: Dr. Rebecca Saunders
This exhibition looks at sex in the digital age. What new channels of sexual communication have been opened up by the fiber optic cables that snake between our continents? What are the new ways in which the networks and robotics of the twenty-first century have allowed us to reach each other? And how do we forge our sexual identities anew through our intimate relationships with digital technologies? This exhibition features the work of undergraduate and postgraduate students from King’s College London, who have studied the ways in which the sexual body has changed in relation to cultural phenomena such as sex robots, pornography and smart technologies. Their work considers the altered forms and aesthetics of the body as it passes through networks and materializes on platforms, the ethics of robot sex, and the cultural specificities of sexuality that abide despite the homogenizing force of the increasingly privatized Internet. Their work is placed within a broader explanatory context of sexuality and the status of the body in contemporary (digital) culture, showing some of the performers and artists our King’s students have studied in developing their ideas about physicality, digital porn culture and sexual (self) surveillance in virtual environments.
Atelophobia
Lisa Carletta (GB)
The work of Lisa Carletta considers how the human body, and in particular the bodies of women, are prepared for viewing.
Bits Without Bodies
Jindong Liu (CN)
Bits Without Bodies demonstrates through its use of digital drawing, the fusion of male human and female virtual fantasy.
Blooming Flesh Angels
Topping Tart (VE)
Diese Bilder zeigen, wie der Körper und insbesondere die erogenen Teile des Körpers, die das erregte Subjekt mit digitalen Technologien interpoliert, im digitalen Bereich Sturm laufen.
Her
Andie Macario (GB)
Macario’s silk print similarly explores the physicality of porn performance.
indoors outdoors
Rhiannon Jude-West (GB)
indoors outdoors is a collection of ‘selfies’.
Inner Fire
Tabita Rezaire (FR)
Tabita Rezaire’s work explores the legacy of colonization and patriarchy on the Internet, highlighting the highly political history of information communication technology.
Sultana & Logging on to Love
Nika Mahnič (SI), Krista Papista, Kate Davis (NZ)
Both projects consider the uncanny effects of mechanical and virtual replication on the body and human identity.
Surveillance Culture
Btihaj Ajana (MA)
This documentary considers surveillance from a political and economic perspective.
Untitled
Michael Lightfoot (GB)
These paintings explore the human body through the materials and form of traditional art, rooting the works in real human interactions.
Untitled
Courtney Trouble (US)
These photographs chart the queer lives of alternative porn performers.
Love in Yellow
Ziwei Shuai (CN)
Credits:
Rebecca Saunders, King’s College London, and all the artists listed.
