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Arse Elektronika 2008: A conference dealing with sex, technology and science fiction.
Sep 17th, 2008 by Viviane
Arse Elektronika 2008
Do Androids Sleep With Electric Sheep?
September 25-28, 2008
San Francisco, USA
A conference dealing with sex, technology and science fiction.
Featuring the Prixxx Arse Elektronika 2008 Awards Ceremony (an unobjectionable award for sex machines, orgasmotrons and teledildonics), the presentation of the Arse Elektronika Anthology “pr0nnovation?” (about pornography and technological innovation), a curated erotic reading about sex in SF/speculative/alt-reality fiction and — of course — a three day conference about critical perspectives on sexuality and pornography in science and social fiction (with keynote speeches by Rudy Rucker and Constance Penley).
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 ta! ke, 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.
Prixxx Arse Elektronika 2008 Awards Ceremony
(@ CELLspace / 2050 Bryant Street, San Francisco / September 25 / 8pm, doors open at 7pm)
An unobjectionable award for sex machines, orgasmotrons and teledildonics.
Hosted by monochrom’s Johannes Grenzfurthner and info maniac David Dempsey. Featuring Annalee Newitz, Jonathan Mann aka GameJew, and many other human and non-human guest stars.
The winners will be honored with the “Golden Kleene”(*).
Prixxx Arse Elektronika 2008 will be a dignified occasion — and so we invite you to dress up properly. Surprise us with sex and science fiction related costumes… and maybe win a “Golden Kleene”(*) yourself!
(*)
There was a young man named Kleene
Who invented a fucking machine.
Concave or convex,
It fit either sex,
And was remarkably easy to clean!
(Limerick, attributed to John von Neumann)
Presentation of Arse Elektronika Anthology: pr0nnovation?
(@ CELLspace / 2050 Bryant Street, San Francisco / September 25 / 8pm, doors open at 7pm)
It is our pleasure and privilege to present you with the first Arse Elektronika Anthology: pr0nnovation?
From the depiction of a vulva in a cave painting to the newest internet porno, technology and sexuality have always been closely linked. No one can predict what the future will bring, but history indicates that sex will continue to play an essential role in technological development. Is it going too far to assume that research in nanotechnology and genetic engineering will be influenced by our sexual needs? The question is not whether these technologies alter humanity, but how they do so.
Edited by Johannes Grenzfurthner, Gunther Friesinger, Daniel Fabry.
Published by RE/Search Publications (San Francisco) in cooperation with monochrom.
Featuring: Michael Achenbach, Timothy Archibald, Peter Asaro, Thomas Ballhausen, Binx, Violet Blue, Jonathan Coopersmith, Mark Dery, Thomas Edlinger, Johannes Grenzfurthner, Ema Konstantinova, Tina Lorenz, Stefan Lutschinger, Kyle Machulis, Aaron Muszalski, Annalee Newitz, Carol Queen, Thomas Roche, Autumn Tyr-Salvia, Frank Apunkt Schneider, Katie Vann, Rose White, Amanda Williams, Katherina Zakravsky.
Arse Elektronika Conference
(@ CELLspace / 2050 Bryant Street, San Francisco / September 26-28 / 1pm - 8pm, doors open at 12am)
“Do Androids Sleep With Electric Sheep?”
Critical Perspectives on Sexuality and Pornography in Science and Social Fiction
This year’s conference will be structured around three day-long talks and discussion panels, each devoted to a specific theme.
Featuring: Violet Blue, Jason Brown, Reesa Brown, Simone Davalos, Daniel Fabry, Karin Harrasser, Richard Kadrey, Verena Kuni, Isaac Leung, Mela Mikes, Susan Mernit, Chris Noessel, Kit O’Connell, Jens Ohlig, Constance Penley, Bonni Rambatan, Bonnie Ruberg, Rudy Rucker, Mae Saslaw, Nathan Shedroff, Viviane, Rose White, Sharing is Sexy (Scruffy Eudora, DJ Lotu5, J Bird), and many others.
Arse Elektronika Reading
(@ Center for Sex & Culture / 1519 Mission Street near 11th, San Francisco / September 26 / 9pm, doors open at 8 pm)
Carol Queen, with the support of the Center for Sex & Culture and cosponsorship of San Francisco’s premiere SF/fantasy bookstore Borderlands, presents a curated erotic reading evening, featuring writers who commonly explore sexual themes in their science fiction and alt-reality fiction work. While the focus of much of the conference will be a critical deconstruction of sexual tropes in SF/speculative/alt-reality fiction, the focus of this event will be to appreciate and celebrate the fiction itself. Readers include Rudy Rucker, Richard Kadrey, M. Christian, Steven Schwartz, Charlie Anders, Carol Queen, Thomas Roche, and more.