Mission Local’s Chris Schodt published a great piece on Arse Elektronika (2013) and monochrom.
Welcome to the world of Grenzfurthner, the founder of Monochrom,
a leftist techno-art collective, who managed to turn such musings on
sex and technology into a small conference in the basement of kink.com.
That was 2007 and seven conferences later – the meetings are always
held in San Francisco – Arse Elektronika
has grown into a gathering, funded by donations, ticket, book sales,
and a small grant from the Austrian government. Grenzfurthner, now
a lecturer on art theory and practice at the University of Applied
Sciences in Graz, Austria, presides.With more than 20 presentations over four days earlier this month,
Arse Elektronika 2013 attracted some 125 hackers, makers, artists, porn
stars and activists of all backgrounds and gender identities.“Sex is very nearly universal, but it just isn’t discussed frankly by
most people,” said Eric Sheur, an animator from Portland, who created
the sex storytelling show Mystery Box Show with his partner Reba Sparrow.