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Sunday, October 09, 2005
22:40
Last week at the Badcuyp
A few memorable moments from The Art and Politics of Netporn conference last weekend at the Badcuyp, in Amsterdam:
- Mark Dery is right when he says you had to be there.
- His opening presentation included an impressive Hokusai print of a woman being pleasured by an octopus, which stood out as the only image where a female seemed to be having any pleasure at all
- Paul Mathias stated that porn invariably involves risk: the risk you might find out something unexpected about yourself
- Barbara de Genevieve showed her baffling, spectacularly energetic transgender sex videos that left many in the audience breathless - I for sure was one of them. The speaker herself had to pause her talk a few times to proudly admire what was going on on the screen behind her - with good reason
- Mireille Miller-Jones talked about the subtle, positive change of tone in sex sites of black women who manage to take control over their careers - one of them, Sinnamon, claims her status as a 'high-class courtisan and afro-geek'
- I spoke about my experimental free-for-all (now no more) nakedness on Flickr. The talk generated a number of positive remarks and conversations. These came almost exclusively from men, and none were spoken publicly: people approached me individually, afterwards, during the several breaks
- Ms. Miller-Jones, on the other hand, commented right away about my preference for the word 'naked' instead of 'nude', pointing out that black people's bodies have always, historically been seen as naked: their right to being nude something yet to be conquered
- Mikita Brottman's talk brought up a discussion about the myth of shocking images being 'imprinted' or 'burned' into our brains - images that might change the viewer forever. No one seemed to know of plausible research that could prove or disprove that myth
- Sergio Messina commented on a long stream of his 'real core' images collected from usenet groups ranging from corduroy fetish to everything you can or cannot imagine
- Some topics were barely discussed, to my disappointment: the impact of USA laws on worldwide distribution of content, distinctions between commercial and not-for-profit production, the fetishization of the 'real'. Next time?
- The closing party with a live, gooey performance by Adam Zaretsky & Barbara Groves and the cuddly Italian bears of Phag Off will not be forgotten.
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Alamut
