1:00:00 AM
The SECOND SEX WAR exhibition by Sidsel Meineche Hansen uses an Oculus Rift and three-dimensional (3D) animations to explore how gender is reproduced in virtual reality (VR) sex videos.
Hansen is well known for her exhibitions and seminars that review the body and its industrial complex. Her latest exhibition, commissioned by Gasworks, London, uses common sexual representations of the female form to highlight the polarity of gender in adult content currently available for virtual reality.
Rob Sharp from Artsy described the exhibit:
“Looking down while wearing an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, the viewer sees a computer-generated torso gyrating erotically around an abstract shape. Pulsating music blasts in the background as the camera angle automatically shifts to view a sexualized avatar’s unmistakably female face.”
The first sex war
SECOND SEX WAR refers to the feminist sex wars of the 1970s and 80s when the nature of explicit content was under debate. While a large slice of feminists believed women’s bodies were being exploited by the patriarchy, others considered female nudity an empowering aspect of free speech. Hansen’s latest work adds a fresh perspective. She subscribes to neither view presented in the sex wars, and instead, offers an alternative.
There’s a good reason why she’s chosen the Oculus Rift as a medium for her work. In an interview with Ryan Ormonde from The Fader, Hansen said she was curious about the effect of digital image distribution. She said she wondered if it had “changed our relationship with our bodies or our sexualities.”
Although the Oculus Rift only became available to the public this March, VR adult material has been in our thoughts for a long time. According to Buzzfeed, virtual sex was being adapted to the Oculus Rift by a group of Japanese developers back in 2013.
Adult content’s contribution to technology
Having had a long-time interest in the relationship between the human body and consumerism, Hansen is well aware of the contributions adult entertainment has made to the tech industry. Distributors of adult content were among the first to send files over the internet and to process payments online. Now, the industry is at the forefront, pushing for advancements in VR.
Cunningly, Hansen has chosen to critique the argument from within. Through a combination of her own work and contracted skilled labour, SECOND SEX WAR displays animations of a 3D female form not dissimilar from those found in adult material now available for the Oculus Rift.
In fact, several of Hansen’s animations feature a woman made from computer-generated imagery (CGI) named EVA 3.0. Created by Nikola Dichev and sold on the digital marketplace Turbosquid, the character is one of many CGI avatars geared towards adult entertainment. She comes with a user manual describing her vaginal maneuverability, and can be interacted with via an avatar.
Article Source: futureofsex
No comments
Post a Comment