NEWS_
Arse Elektronika 2008_
Date 29th September 2008
Tags conference, technology, international, New York, sexuality
Critical Perspectives on Sexuality and Pornography in Science and Social Fiction
Taking up where the successful conference in autumn 2007 left off, this
year's Arse Elektronika stands under the motto "future" -- and the ways
in which the present sees itself reflected in it. Maintaining a
broadened perspective on technical development and technology while
also putting special emphasis on its social implementation, this year's
conference focuses on Science and Social Fiction.
The
genre of the "fantastic" is especially well suited to the investigation
of the touchy area of sexuality and pornography: actual and assumed
developments are frequently depicted positively and approvingly, but
just as often with dystopian admonishment. Here the classic, and
continuingly valid, themes of modernism represent a clear link between
the two aspects: questions of science, research and technologization
are of interest, as is the complex surrounding urbanism, artificiality
and control (or the loss of control). Depictions of the future,
irregardless of the form they take, always address the present as well.
Imaginations of the fantastic and the nightmarish give rise to a
thematic overlapping of the exotic, the alienating and, of course, the
pornographic/sexual as well.
Arse Elektronika 2008 happened in San Francisco from the 25 to 29 of September. Details about events and speakers who appeared can be found on the website.
