Arse Elektronika 2010 / September 30 thru October 3!

Latest information and updates

Flickr Photo Pool for Techno(Sexual) Bodies / Arse Elektronika Hong Kong

Opening of exhibition at Videotage was a huge success.
Please add your images!









Link





Arse Elektronika Hong Kong: Twitter

Hash tag for Techno(Sexual) Bodies/Arse Elektronika Hong Kong: #arsehk





Setting up Techno(sexual) Bodies / Arse Elektronika in Hong Kong

We are setting up Arse Elektronika in Hong Kong! All goes well so far!








Techno(sexual) Bodies / Arse Elektronika in Hong Kong

Arse Elektronika goes Hong Kong!



Techno(sexual) Bodies: Arse Elektronika X Videotage / Artist Talk @ Dorkbot-HK
Speakers: Johannes Grenzfurthner (founder of monochrom and Arse Elektronika), Heather Kelley (media artist and video game designer), Karen Marcelo (founder of dorkbot-sf), Bonni Rambatan (media theorist).

Date: April 1, 2010 (Thu) Time: 6pm-7pm Venue: Osage Soho; Address: G/F, 45 Caine Road, Central, Hong Kong.
Techno(sexual) Bodies / Arse Elektronika X Videotage / Exhibition
Co-curated by Johannes Grenzfurthner (Austria) and Isaac Leung (HK)

From the simple electronic vibrator to the complex assemblages of cybersex, sex and technology have always intersected. The dynamic relations between sexuality and technology are constantly changing along with the ways in which human beings achieve psychological and bodily pleasure through these devices. By inviting artists who're dealing with various issues of technosexual bodies, we aim not only to examine the unexplored technicalities, functionalities and interfaces of the new technologies and sexualities, but also to formulate a broader understanding of the meanings of the "technosexual".

Participating Artists: Timothy Archibald (USA), Shu Lea Cheang (USA/France), Paul Granjon (UK), Katrien Jacobs (Belgium), Heather Kelley (USA/CAN), Kyle Machulis (USA), monochrom (Austria), Ellen Pau (HK), Stephane Perrin (Japan), Rainer Prohaska (Austria), Allen Stein (USA), Morgan Wong (HK)

Opening Reception: April 2, 2010 (Fri), 6pm
Exhibition Period: April 7-27, 2010
Opening Hour: 12pm-7pm (Tue-Sun except public holidays)
Venue: Videotage (Unit 13, Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road, To Kwa Wan, Kowloon, Hong Kong)





Arse Elektronika: Review of "Do Androids Sleep with Electric Sheep?" on The SF Site

Very detailed review of our Arse Elektronika anthology "Do Androids Sleep with Electric Sheep?" featured on "The SF Site":
Like good science fiction, the material collected in Do Androids Sleep With Electric Sheep? leaves us with more questions than we arrived with; if you can stomach the subject matter (which shouldn't really appall anyone but the most prudish and conservative, to be honest, though my perceptions may be somewhat skewed), this is prime fuel for your imaginatory engines. The focal character of James Tiptree, Jr.'s story "And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side" suggests that, as humans, "we're built to dream outwards" [pp 239], to project our desire onto "the other", whoever or whatever it may happen to be. It's an insight that makes more sense each time you read it, and serves to underline the basic commonality between sex and science fiction, or indeed art in general -- they are both ways in which we try to subsume ourselves into (or control and dominate over) that which we are not.
Love makes us do strange things, after all.
Link





The Future of Porn

Panel discussion with Johannes Grenzfurthner (monochrom, Arse Elektronika), Rose White, Ella Saitta and Aaron "SFSlim" Muszalski @ C-Base Berlin, December 29, 2009; 9 PM.

If you ask mainstream pornographers what their vision of the future is, it involves cracking down on piracy making more money re-selling the same generic products in new formats. What about independent pornographers with an eye on longtail markets who are focused on creating "weird" products that most people don't want to buy? Or consumers who are seeking porn to cater to their special interests not covered in mainstream heteronormative porn? Or people who prefer porn and Real Dolls to sexual involvement with other humans? And, what of the future of computer-generated porn? While the major adult companies are still trying to figure out why people aren't buying as many $45 DVDs as they used to, more and more niche pornographers, artists, merchants, and performers are popping up to create offbeat erotic entertainment with a small, but enthusiastic fanbase. Join these nerdy perverts for a discussion on the many directions in which the future of porn is really headed.





Interview with Kyle Machulis on Sex Toy Tech

Recording of Kyle's interview on Sex Toy Tech with FM4 Radio, Friday, November 20, 2009.
Intro is in German, interview in English language.
Link (MP3)





A Teledildonic Soiree: Arse Elektronika Vienna Special

Arse Elektronika Vienna Special

Friday, November 20, 8 PM @ Raum D, Museumsquartier, Vienna
== What is the sex of the future, and why aren't we having it yet? ==

In this talk about the current state of sex toy technology, including computer controlled toys, teledildonics, and whatever weird stuff he had to bring through customs with him, Kyle Machulis (of Nonpolynomial Labs and http://slashdong.org) covers what's available to the consumer currently, why it sucks, and what's coming in the near and far future. Outlining the thoughts and strategies that go into designing the interface to a sex toy, he asks the question: What can the DIY and open source community do to help further everyone with a access to a computer getting laid?

About the speaker:
Kyle Machulis, aka qDot, is a researcher of alternate input mechanisms and haptics, which is really a fancy way of saying he breaks sex toys. Through his Slashdong webpage, he uses the topic of teledildonics (remotely actuated sexual experience) to teach the basic concepts of software, electrical and mechanical engineering. He also tracks the convergence of sex and technological advances in toys and interaction, building on the idea that paradigms for interfaces people would use for intimate encounters on computers can be extended to other usage experiences. He is one of monochrom's collaborators at Arse Elektronika in San Francisco.



== Do Androids Sleep With Electric Sheep? Critical Perspectives on Sexuality and Pornography in Science and Social Fiction ==

Johannes Grenzfurthner will introduce you to the brand new Arse Elektronika Anthology "Do Andoids Sleep With Electric Sheep?"
Taking up where the successful first part of the Arse Elektronika book series left off, this anthology stands under the motto "future" -- and the ways in which the present sees itself reflected in it. Maintaining a broadened perspective on technical development and technology while also putting special emphasis on its social implementation, this anthology focuses on Science and Social Fiction. The genre of the "fantastic" is especially well suited to the investigation of the touchy area of sexuality and pornography: actual and assumed developments are frequently depicted positively and approvingly, but just as often with dystopian admonishment. Here the classic, and continuingly valid, themes of modernism represent a clear link between the two aspects: questions of science, research and technologization are of interest, as is the complex surrounding urbanism, artificiality and control (or the loss of control). Depictions of the future, irregardless of the form they take, always address the present as well. Imaginations of the fantastic and the nightmarish give rise to a thematic overlapping of the exotic, the alienating and, of course, the pornographic/sexual as well.

Featuring essays and stories by Rudy Rucker, Richard Kadrey, James Tiptree, Jr., Allen Stein, Sharing is Sexy, Jason Brown, Cory Doctorow, Annalee Newitz, Tina Lorenz, Reesa Brown, Karin Harrasser, Isaac Leung, Rose White, Mela Mikes, Viviane, Susan Mernit, Chris Noessel, Kit O'Connell, Jens Ohlig, Bonni Rambatan, Thomas Roche, Bonnie Ruberg, Mae Saslaw, Violet Blue, Nathan Shedroff, 23N!, Benjamin Cowden, Johannes Grenzfurthner, Daniel Fabry.
Edited by Johannes Grenzfurthner, Günther Friesinger, Daniel Fabry, Thomas Ballhausen.
Published by RE/Search Publications (San Francisco) in cooperation with monochrom.






Kyle Machulis: new monochrom artist in residence in Vienna

Our new artist in residence arrived in Vienna! Hooray!

Kyle Machulis, aka qDot, is a researcher of alternate input mechanisms and haptics, which is really a fancy way of saying he breaks sex toys. Through his Slashdong webpage (http://www.slashdong.org), he uses the topic of teledildonics (remotely actuated sexual experience) to teach the basic concepts of software, electrical and mechanical engineering. He also tracks the convergence of sex and technological advances in toys and interaction, building on the idea that paradigms for interfaces people would use for intimate encounters on computers can be extended to other usage experiences.
He is one of monochrom's collaborators at Arse Elektronika in San Francisco.






Jason Scott @ Arse Elektronika 2009: The Atomic Level of Porn

Eddie Codel shot a video of Jason Scott's talk about digital retro-porn at Arse Elektronika 2009.

Jason Scott @ Arse Elektronika 2009: The Atomic Level of Porn from ekai on Vimeo.






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Arse Elektronika 2010. September 30 thru October 3, 2010 in San Francisco, USA.

We may not forget that mankind is a sexual and tool-using species. And that's why our annual conference Arse Elektronika deals with sex, technology and the future. As bio-hacking, sexually enhanced bodies, genetic utopias and plethora of gender have long been the focus of literature, science fiction and, increasingly, pornography, this year will see us explore the possibilities that fictional and authentic bodies have to offer. Our world is already way more bizarre than our ancestors could have ever imagined. But it may not be bizarre enough. "Bizarre enough for what?" -- you might ask. Bizarre enough to subvert the heterosexist matrix that is underlying our world and that we should hack and overcome for some quite pressing reasons within the next century.
Don't you think, replicants?