A swipe, a like, a slippery DM. Any bodily desire articulated in a character defined limit can be solicited and obtained in the time it takes to connect Facebook to your new dating app. The underbelly of the internet cultivates taboo ideologies while fetishes are commodified as casual encounters. Every facet of personal interaction is preordained by community guidelines, chatroom moderators, and corporate Peeping Toms. The casual, the discrete, and the kinky are increasingly formal.
Sara Clarken: First and foremost, who is Craig? The personal ads were just a small part of it; craigslist was almost exactly like the classifieds in the back of a newspaper, except wherein one could receive immediate satisfaction. Say you wanted a bicycle fixed, but could only pay in banana bread. The Casual Encounters section applied the same transactional spirit to niche kink. In places like Los Angeles, thousands of these ads would pop-up every minute. In the ads, people distill their needs down to a few sentences, and viewers take them or leave them based on how well these minimal portraits comport with their own longings.
The viewer is forced to apply a sort of formalist view of art history to human desire. It should be noted that Casual Encounters itself was shut down in the States this week due to new, Trump-era sex laws. Casual Encounters is still online outside of the US. SC: This is your Balkan curatorial debut! Aside from bringing your energy to Nicodim after recently being appointed Director, why was it important to present the ideologies surrounding surveillance and desire in Romania?
A million people have written about this already, but while this corporate-Capitalist surveillance has enabled us to become more connected to one another, most of our interactions have become decontextualized, formal encounters that are devoid of the deeper, more soulful stuff. SC: An assortment of mediums fill the former factory. The body is an obvious necessity in discussing the privately-public attributes of seeking relationships online, but how do you feel the audience activated these specific works further?
Do you like fingers? Anna Uddenberg has you covered. Group situations? While the works themselves can be flirty and kinky, the presentation is cold and clinical, like a drop-down menu. It seems we only really personally interact with one another nowadays by accident. There are great bars and restaurants. Everyone is inclusive and welcoming. Check out this review in RevistaβArta.
