Arse Elektronika 2008: (Humand and Non-Human) Performers
| Humans |
23N! (zeni)
23N! (zeni) started to build his own musical devices in 2005. In early 2007 he started the band Droise with Kakawaka, another noise musician, and Yosei, a drummer. Together they played numerous shows in Japan and did a tour in Europe in Fall 2007. 23N! is now continuing as No Fork Droise with drummer Yosei and has recently started to play solo shows that are a mix of visual performance, cosplay and noise, always with homemade instruments, noise toys and effects.
In addition to his musical activities, 23N! has started various media art projects. He is running the noise music label Even Stilte and regularly organizes live shows in Tokyo.
Benjamin Cowden
Benjamin Cowden began working with metal during an undergraduate anthropology project in Cameroon in 1997, where he studied how Baka Pygmies turned worn machetes into utility knives. He later worked as a blacksmith and focused on utilitarian objects and furniture. When he began making sculpture in 2003, Cowden sought to maintain the physical relationship and interactivity of his earlier work. During his graduate studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Benjamin created interactive mechanical devices which explored human experience and the senses. Mr. Cowden now lives in Oakland California where he continues to explore these themes using mechanics, electronics, and other media.
David Dempsey
David Dempsey is an ADDled informationmaniac who has replaced his mostly dysfunctional long-term memory with the web and small electronic thingies. After several years of multimedia production including a few disastrous but thrilling experiences in the realm of web video production during the dot-com boom, he has found a happy and comfortable existence as a media monkey for an Austrian radio station. Despite massive incomprehension of any concepts that can be described using the terms modern, post modern, or mildly clever, he delivers a daily column following interesting web links, moderates several radio shows and is occasionally paid for providing commentary on the frequently brutal stupidity of his native country.
1990: Acceptance into the Academy of Applied Arts Vienna, Visual Media Design.
1992: Expulsion from the Academy of Applied Arts Vienna, Visual Media Design.
1993-1999: Freelance work as Cameraman, Graphic and Multimedia Designer (Print, Web, UI and Video Postproduction)
1993-2007: Freelance technical consultant for media production
2000: Production design, motion design, and technical consulting for webfreetv.com. Webdesign and motion graphics for the Auslaender Raus project by Christoph Schlingensief.
2000-2001: Creative Director and technical consultant for Framfab Austria.
2001-: Freelance moderator, photographer and music/tech journalist for ORF, TV1, and various other projects.
Johannes Grenzfurthner
Johannes Grenzfurthner is writer, artist, director, and DIY researcher. He founded monochrom in 1993.
He holds a professorship for art theory and art practice at the University of Applied Sciences, Graz, Austria.
Johannes published numerous books, essays, and articles on contemporary art, activism, technology, science, and philosophy. Recurring topics in his work are: technology misappropriation, media theory, viral resistance, radical postmodernism, popular culture studies, science fiction, and debate about copyright.
He curates Arse Elektronika.
Michael/CoxyPro
>>Greetings! While I have worn many hats in my life, I find the building of sex machines the most fascinating practice. Being born and raised in San Francisco, I believe in ones freedom to express and create through forever changing opportunity. My name is Michael and currently I reside in Northern California with my wife of 27 years. Home construction has been my main occupation, but I am truly capable of performing any task. One of my prized achievements is my line of CoxyPro Sex Machines, Chi Pleasure and Chi Domination.<<
Greg Larson
>>I’m 49, live in the suburbs of SF and have been playing in the SF Sex-Positive subcultures for several years. My normal job involves teaching Engineer types how to troubleshoot Robotics and Instrumentation used in Molecular Diagnostics.<<
Jonathan Mann aka GameJew
Jonathan Mann is an under-employed, over-enthusiastic songwriter extraordinaire turned online video ninja robot master. He's 26, loves making love, sometimes takes it up the butt, but only when his girlfriend does it. Consider his exploits over at www.mannmade.tv
Annalee Newitz
Annalee Newitz is a writer who covers the collisions between technology and media, culture and science. She is a contributing editor at Wired, editor of indie magazine other, and writes the nationally-syndicated column Techsploitation. You can also find her writing in Popular Science, New Scientist, and The Believer. She is the author of "Pretend We're Dead," a political analysis of monster movies, and co-editor of "She's Such a Geek," a collection of essays about female nerds. She's also President of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.
| Non-Humans |
Eating My Cake and Having it Too
By Benjamin Cowden
Eating My Cake and Having it Too is a mechanical exploration of the sense of taste as well as the eroticism implied by the act of licking. The machine began with thoughts about the use of saliva and the mouth as a means of claiming ownership (as children we lick things or spit on them, as adults we kiss, etc.) and evolved into a device which affords viewer/operators a chance to experience licking a lollipop from a disembodied standpoint. The machine uses a silicone tongue, manipulated by the viewer via gears and levers, and moistened by a gravity-fed water source. The tongue gradually dissolves a cherry lollipop, whose juices spatter and drip about the base.
The Machine
By Greg Larson
>>My original vision was to build a stage prop to be used in a live, hardcore stage show involving a small group of women dressed in spandex, who cajole another young woman to be strapped to a very large machine that they then use to fuck her. Although the show never took place, the resulting pedal-drive fucking machine received some attention around San Francisco, where it has appeared at numerous erotic art venues, including Folsom St Fair, The Backroom erotic art show, Dada Fest (including a live public performance,) Mitchell Bros., the Power Exchange, Kinky Salon, The Erotic Museum LA, and many private erotic play parties. Although I built it more for “show,” about a hundred adventurous women have gone for a ride. Originally, the machine was also motor driven, however I found the pedal-driven method more elegant and show-worthy, and was pleasantly surprised how much of a “penetrating sensation” can be transferred through one’s feet! All of the materials used to build it came from thrifts shops or the hardware store.<<
The Perpetual Erection Machine (PEM)
By 23N! (zeni)
The PEM is a simple device coupled to a computer that is aimed to maintain a perpetual state of erection of the user. It does so by selecting and showing to the user pictures or movies that will successively induce a state of sexual arousal or the opposite.
The selection of pictures or movies is based on the results of a questionnaire that the user has to answer before using the device.
The PEM is asking a more general question about the relation between movies/pictures and sexual arousal. It won't be surprising that some users will be sexually aroused by images they though wouldn't cause them to be sexually aroused. As such, the PEM acts as a self-diagnostic tool by allowing the user to explore its own sexual fantasies.
The Seismic Dildo
By 23N! (zeni)
The Seismic Dildo is a conventional dildo that is turned on (vibrating) only in case of an earthquake somewhere in the world. The intensity of the vibrations of the dildo are determined by the magnitude of the earthquake. The duration of the vibrations is determined by the distance between the user and the epicenter of the earthquake.
The Seismic Dildo creates a tangible link between possibly dramatic events that are taking place somewhere in the world, represented by earthquakes, and the user, at the same instant she/he is experiencing sexual pleasure. While tragic events are continuously taking place somewhere in the world, the Seismic Dildo makes the user physically and sexually aware of this.
Another way to see the Seismic Dildo, that is more politically correct, is to see it as a way to make love with Earth itself, the dildo acting as the sexual organ of the Earth.
The Sex Strike Dildo
By 23N! (zeni)
The Sex Strike Dildo is a conventional dildo that the user is able to use freely for one day only if she/he has met a given daily requirement. This requirement is that a given measure or rating of a given political or societal fact does not exceed a threshold set by the user. The threshold represents the user's tolerance on the considered political or societal fact.
The Sex Strike Dildo is a way for the user to express his/her opinion relative to a given political or societal fact by eventually doing a sex strike. By setting the threshold, the user is expressing her/his tolerance limit to the considered fact before not allowing her/himself sexual gratification.
A working example of the Sex Strike Dildo has been completed with the measure being the daily body count of Iraqi civilians. The user sets the amount of daily dead Iraqi civilians she/he tolerates before not allowing her/himself sexual gratification.
USAV (Ultimate Sexual Arousal Vehicle)
By Michael/CoxyPro
>>When I first uncovered this calling, it was a picture of Fuckzilla and a challenge.
We're hoping that whoever wins the prize can deliver an opening night demo worthy
enough for us to say, Move over, Fuckzilla. For that reason, I chose to answer this calling with an opposing force, a mobile design with an operator. By outfitting my machine, USAV (Ultimate Sexual Arousal Vehicle), with a drivers seat and by limiting the operators visibility to a monitor, I have created what I call the voyeurs platform. While engaged in sight and sound, the pilot maintains full control of the vehicle as well as its payload. The cockpit is equipped with a fifteen-inch LCD monitor and a full control panel. The unit is powered by a twelve-volt operating system and with its fully selfcontained charging system it is truly a Green Machine. By utilizing the onboard cameras and a joystick steering controller, this machine can be maneuvered into almost any position. It is also equipped with a pressurized lube system capable of delivering a soft blast of lubrication, followed by an exciting stroke-style delivery system that makes use of the exclusive Fluid Flow Head that will be delivering 0-260 strokes per-minute. With an adjustable stroke of two, four or six inches, this machine is capable of more pleasure than most can handle. Ask yourself this: Robot pleasure? Or, a Voyeur on a mission to satisfy deep desires? What ever your pleasure, my device is intended to insert as much stimulation into the mind as into the body, delivering an experience that only ones imagination can recall.<<