LA Times on Arse Elektronika: "Sex and technology meet the future -- this weekend"
Sex has always led technology. Early photography evolved on the back of dirty photos. Home video recording and VHS tapes gained traction first in the world of porn. And the Internet would never have grown into the insatiable beast we know today without the profitable, technology-driving porn industry.
But what of genetic engineering? Sex toys? Future robot sex?
They're all the territory of Arse Elektronika, an alternative sex-meets-technology conference held in San Francisco (of course). Now in its third year, it kicks off Thursday night at the Roxie Theater, with film screenings, an opening celebration and the Prixxx Arse Elektronika Awards Gala. Discussions, a hands-on session and presentations will include "Atomic Porn: What is the smallest particle of erotica?", "Sexual Etiquette and Law in the Age of the Panopticon" (hello, Foucault!), "Of Hypercrotch and Nanobot" and "Steampunk Vibrator: DIY?"
monochrom is an art-technology-philosophy group having its seat in Vienna and Zeta Draconis. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science, context hacking and political activism. Our mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom has existed in this (and almost every other) form since 1993. [more]