Post-Occupancy Women

[imomus]

Hello from Gothenburg, where it's grey and misty. The flight from Berlin is a quick one. The Swedish landscape is more Scottish-looking than the German one, though it's an ideal, Platonic Scotland with its pines uncut, its craggy rocks covered in lichen, its barns unusually red, its farms clapperboard-Puritan. Gothenburg airport is surprisingly tiny, and it takes me a while to locate its only cash machine and draw some krone. Yes, like Britain, Sweden is one of those stubborn Schengen states which retains its own currency. I wish they'd both adopt the euro. Currency exchange is so clunky.

I make for the city centre office of Jesper Larsson, an elegant design practice in a room displaying Klein Dytham tape rolls and Japanese character goods. Jesper is just back from Tokyo, but tells me he didn't have time to see much of the three design shows going on there. He took a trip to Kyoto and Kyushu but (like me) finds himself getting quickly bored outside Tokyo.

There was a minor crisis -- trouble in Sweden's liberal paradise, Jesper called it -- over the soft porn images I'd chosen for my pecha kucha presentation. Some members of the committee felt they portrayed women as victims, or that the girls looked under-age (they weren't). There was also concern that the event's local funders might take offense. I'd already offered to blur the images -- to blobs if necessary -- and, though this was at first rejected, in the end that's what we decided to do, with the PK people pointing out that I'd already voluntarily blurred the image I put on my blog.

I can't tell you much about the other presentations, since they were all in Swedish. But the 300-odd people at Nefertiti laughed a lot, which is a good sign. And my presentation went well. I pointed out the double standard in our culture which sees women "degraded" by sexual use, whereas sexual encounters "upgrade" a man's status. I related this to the Platonic tradition of ideal forms -- adapted by capitalism as "commodity fetishism" -- and to the tendency of designers and architects in capitalism to focus on the point of exchange (when something is valuable-because-pristine) rather than the point of use (when, as in the tradition of wabi sabi, signs of use confer value, beauty and dignity). Referring to a recent issue of Domus magazine devoted to Rem Koolhaas' concept of "post-occupancy" (Koolhaas wants architects to pay more attention to their designs after they're occupied, ie used), I referred to the porn models as "post-occupancy women" and said we should see their signs of use (the sperm Jesper had spent the afternoon removing with his radial blur tool, for instance) as beautful. I ended by calling sex the place where nature's creative process meets its production process: isn't that what design is all about?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Oh no I missed out on PK and Momus in Gothenburg!

btw there are two airports, a tiny one for low cost flights and a 'normal' one which is still pretty small
btw2 euros are evil:


warm welcome to the West Coast!
Gabriel

its all just pixels

[(Anonymous)]

At what level does the obscuration of the pornographic makes it "acceptable"? There is an example here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrRcrexEV7Y
of where porn become simply a pixelated tableau..
yours
Ned

Re: its all just pixels

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm firmly of the belief that taboo creates obscenity. Therefore censorship is the source of, rather than the solution to, obscenity. PK Gothenburg made the images more, not less, obscene. Which was another reason to let them do it (I also liked the idea that the blur was just another layer of "sperm" on the girls, another layer of dignifying patina).

double standard

[rinusvanalebeek.livejournal.com]

Or not?

The one cliché about the ideal woman sees her as a Virgin and a whore,
which makes the ideal man move between a pimp and a Saint.

The degrading/upgrading behaviour fits in perfectly.

Upgrading is an expression that comes from the business class world,
thus also from the oldest business in town.

Degrading comes from the moralist corner of that same town,
where people try to become saints.

greetings from sunny Bordeaux

for hire: woman. slightly soiled

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

WOMEN: LIKE BUILDINGS.

Someone hoover me and paint my windowpanes, please. Good thing I got the curtains done yesterday, now Astral Marc can move in no problem!

Re: for hire: woman. slightly soiled

[oh--tsarevich.livejournal.com]

OH BABY HOOVER ME RIGHT THERE

BUT NOT THE SPERM!! YOU CAN TAKE MY DUST BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE MY DIGNITY!!!

Re: for hire: woman. slightly soiled

[microworlds.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Nicky Wire would LOVE to hoover you!

(Off topic, but I can't comment anonymously here because my IP address was marked as spam? WHAT.)

if it makes me laugh...?!

[(Anonymous)]

"I can't tell you much about the other presentations, since they were all in Swedish. But the 300-odd people at Nefertiti laughed a lot, which is a good sign."

Don't forget to use this at your "Down With Fun!" presentation! ehehehe!

Pedro Félix

[trickseybird.livejournal.com]

Some members of the committee felt they portrayed women as victims, or that the girls looked under-age (they weren't).


MY SELF PORTRAIT:

(http://photobucket.com)

SELF PORTRAIT OF TRUTH

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

Re: SELF PORTRAIT OF TRUTH

[trickseybird.livejournal.com]

lol my chimney totally jizzed dignified patina on you

~MY SELF PORTRAIT~ ^_____^

[microworlds.livejournal.com]

(http://tinypic.com)

[kumakouji.livejournal.com]

"Some members of the committee felt they portrayed women as victims...There was also concern that the event's local funders might take offense."

I would have personally just said "you know what, forget it. Im not breaking any laws, there shouldnt be this kind of censorship. This isnt the event I thought it was." and just not done it.

What kind of serious artistic event a)has a committee of artists/designers who have hangups about porn and sex and b) is open to self-censorship because the people who finance it might take offense?

You point out capitalism as a prime cause for the double standards and stigma that exist around women in pornography, but I personally think the real culprit is insincere feminism. Insincere feminism seeks to exploit and propergate double standards in favour of women, rather than seek equality for all.

An insincere feminist would say: "Women are earning less than men! This needs to be stamped out!"

Someone seeking equality would say "Women deserve to be paid exactly the same as men if theyre both doing exactly the same work. However, women dont deserve to be paid as much as men if they take on part time work instead of full time. They dont deserve to be paid as much as men if they're a secretary and not an MD."

An insincere feminist would say: "Look at Lara Croft, she's clearly an example of men objectifying women for their sexuality. its unacceptable."



A person seeking equality would say: "Actually, you're just as likely to see games featuring topless, muscled, handsome men as you are to see busty, curvy women. The bottom line is, sex sells, and we all like it."




Automatically assuming a women is a "victim" because shes portrayed in a sexual situation is doing all women a great disservice. Not only does it make sweeping assumptions about a women's ability to fully consent, turning them into child-like figures which is what women are trying to get away from, but it also creates an stigma regarding a woman's sexuality, that somehow she shouldnt be allowed to enjoy being sexualized, even though men are allowed and openly bask in it.

There's a chance that the women in your photographs were coerced, bullied and taken advantage off. But theres also a chance they actively sought out those jobs and thoroughly enjoyed doing it. Automatically assuming its the former is insincere feminist nonsense thats counter productive.

Personally, I find it more offensive that creativity and freedom of expression was being stifled for financial reasons.

[trickseybird.livejournal.com]

WE CAN BEST EXPRESS OUR INTELLECTUAL STANCE THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF MSPAINT.

ALSO, BECAUSE YOU'RE GAY, YOU CAN BE A HOUSE TOO.

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

Also, what if no penises OR babies live in me for a really long time??

Do I become derelict, and will I be demolished?

Or will punks squat in me????

OH OH I KNOW. I´LL BECOME THE HAUNTED HOUSE THAT KILLS PEOPLE BY DRIVING THEM MAD.

[microworlds.livejournal.com]

YOU ARE ALREADY HAUNTING MOMUS'S PENIS HOUSE SO IDK WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT

post-occupancy pictures?

[(Anonymous)]

I simple thought the pics were so much more beautiful after "being used"... shared, from Japanese porn sites to me via you, then used at least 2-3 times over in Photoshop, and then copied and inserted in Keynote, then transported though wires and projected on to a screen... it's like the images have a history...

Basically I blurred the images because of two reasons:
1) copyright issues
2) since you chose to do it on your blog

hope you like my flat
/JESPER

[microworlds.livejournal.com]

I pointed out the double standard in our culture which sees women "degraded" by sexual use, whereas sexual encounters "upgrade" a man's status.

*yawn*

[microworlds.livejournal.com]

Also today is Thanksgiving and I already know what I'm thankful for! BEING USED FOR THE SELF-STROKING OF A CERTAIN PENIS HOUSE'S OWN ALREADY OVER-INFLATED EGO

[cap-scaleman.livejournal.com]

I've browsed around looking for Swedish blogs and sites talking more about Pecha Kucha. Now I want to make a Pecha Kucha presentation myself!

OMG RICK IS A MISOGYNIST

[microworlds.livejournal.com]

SHE WANTS TO DANCE WITH ME
COS I LET HER BE WHAT SHE WANTS TO BE

omg ihu rick

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

I CAN HAS BE HOUSE?

[microworlds.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD RICK WHAT ARE YOU DOING

[microworlds.livejournal.com]

HE TREATS WOMEN RIGHT

[(Anonymous)]

I must say that the comments have become much more appropriate to the posts lately. Way to go MicroLOLz et al.!

der.

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

goddamnit, give me some bleeding credit for the mspaint ideas.

as in the tradition of wabi sabi, signs of use confer value, beauty and dignity

[pay-option07.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Domus since my design school daze but always found the giant plastic injection moulding of entire interiors fascinating.

But speaking of value, beauty and dignity in the occupancy of this baby.
It has a definite connection to the sex place and creation.]
I'm surprised you have left this landscape untouched.
Congratulations on success in Gothberg.
The below info arrived today with my complimentary copy of Victor /hasselblad also from Gothberg.

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[akabe.livejournal.com]

if i recall koolhaas & co also use japanese (of all) porn to illustrate some of their finer points in s m l xl

[akabe.livejournal.com]

the reason , exoticism aside i suspect , same as here, being that it is or appears to be more polarized, more telluric/cosmic, a la uranus and gaia at the old greeks.

[beketaten.livejournal.com]

As much as I've disagreed with you here, I'll have to say that I most definitely agree with you here.

However, some women are still just skanky sluts.

I am a female misogynist type, though there are many contradictions in my personality, but it is still good to hear you not falling into the "double standard" trap.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I am a female misogynist type, though there are many contradictions in my personality, but it is still good to hear you not falling into the "double standard" trap

I think there are probably more female misogynists than male ones, actually, because so many men are blinded to women's vices by their mother- and lover- complexes. Luckily there are some women who act so badly that they actually open even these romantic mens' eyes!

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