[Metalab] A Teledildonic Soiree: Arse Elektronika Vienna Special

[das ende der nahrungskette]

== A TELEDILDONIC SOIREE ==

Arse Elektronika Vienna Special

http://www.monochrom.at/arse-elektronika

Friday, November 20, 8 PM @ Raum D, Museumsquartier, Vienna


== What is the sex of the future, and why aren't we having it yet?

In this talk about the current state of sex toy 
technology, including computer controlled toys, 
teledildonics, and whatever weird stuff he had to 
bring through customs with him, Kyle Machulis (of 
Nonpolynomial Labs and http://slashdong.org) 
covers what's available to the consumer 
currently, why it sucks, and what's coming in the 
near and far future. Outlining the thoughts and 
strategies that go into designing the interface 
to a sex toy, he asks the question: What can the 
DIY and open source community do to help further 
everyone with a access to a computer getting laid?

About the speaker:
Kyle Machulis, aka qDot, is a researcher of 
alternate input mechanisms and haptics, which is 
really a fancy way of saying he breaks sex toys. 
Through his Slashdong webpage, he uses the topic 
of teledildonics (remotely actuated sexual 
experience) to teach the basic concepts of 
software, electrical and mechanical engineering. 
He also tracks the convergence of sex and 
technological advances in toys and interaction, 
building on the idea that paradigms for 
interfaces people would use for intimate 
encounters on computers can be extended to other 
usage experiences. He is one of monochrom's 
collaborators at Arse Elektronika in San Francisco.


== Do Androids Sleep With Electric Sheep? 
Critical Perspectives on Sexuality and 
Pornography in Science and Social Fiction ==

Johannes Grenzfurthner will introduce you to the 
brand new Arse Elektronika Anthology "Do Andoids Sleep With Electric Sheep?"
Taking up where the successful first part of the 
Arse Elektronika book series left off, this 
anthology 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 anthology 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.

Featuring essays and stories by Rudy Rucker, 
Richard Kadrey, James Tiptree, Jr., Allen Stein, 
Sharing is Sexy, Jason Brown, Cory Doctorow, 
Annalee Newitz, Tina Lorenz, Reesa Brown, Karin 
Harrasser, Isaac Leung, Rose White, Mela Mikes, 
Viviane, Susan Mernit, Chris Noessel, Kit 
O'Connell, Jens Ohlig, Bonni Rambatan, Thomas 
Roche, Bonnie Ruberg, Mae Saslaw, Violet Blue, 
Nathan Shedroff, 23N!, Benjamin Cowden, Johannes Grenzfurthner, Daniel Fabry.
Edited by Johannes Grenzfurthner, Günther 
Friesinger, Daniel Fabry, Thomas Ballhausen.
Published by RE/Search Publications (San 
Francisco) in cooperation with monochrom.