The Sexcam Performers Are Now High-Art
Webcam performers were requested to imitate famous Western art stances for the project "Webcam Venus," which was created by Pablo Garcia and Addie Wagenknecht. Pornographers developed a number of now-ubiquitous technologies in an effort to X-rate our dial-up connections, including fee-based memberships, credit card verification, internet billing systems, streaming video, and websites with integrated Flash.
From the printing press to satellite television, Smut has contributed to their progress. After all, as soon as photography was created, it was being utilized to create pornographic images. New technology has always been abused by pornography for financial gain, opening the door for widespread use. Pablo Garcia and Addie Wagenknecht, two artists, want to provide an answer with their latest endeavor, Webcam Venus. They requested that webcam models strike the same stances as famous Western paintings like the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and nude works by Raphael, Degas, Delacroix, and Rembrandt, to mention a few. In the striking images from Webcam Venus, a large-breasted lady in fishnet stockings reclines next to a computer keyboard and mouse, takes off her blouse, and adopts the pose of Modigliani's Reclining Nude. The performer known only as "kimisquirtx" positions herself across a bed, falls back, and briefly assumes the figure of Titian's Venus of Urbino.
Webcams and chat platforms are used by amateur webcam performers to communicate with their viewers. A post "best way to take booty pics"(for example, https://my.club/blog/how-to-take-booty-pics/) receives tens of thousands of views per day. After all, we do reside in a society where information is readily available. Every online user is a brand, an accumulation of comments and publications about their personal preferences, connections, meals, wants, and purchases. Our private worlds are up for purchase and analysis; we produce while also consuming. Online sex is not any different. Depending on what their viewers want to see, sexcam performers strip off, pose, and engage in sex activities live. They serve as both the puppets, bending to the whims and obsessions of the paying audience, and the brand, in charge.
The artists claim that by using sexcam-like terminology, they are "challenging the institutions that promote erroneous notions of propriety—via nudity in classical painting—as the sole acceptable safe-for-work beauty." Motherboard: How did you select the webcam performers, and what factors did you consider when deciding which performers to pair with certain works of art? Garcia: Initially, we would photograph any willing model. As a resource, we created a Dropbox folder with roughly 100 famous pieces of art. This was of males, females, couples, groups, etc., and covered all of time with a heavy emphasis on the Western Canon (as we were explicitly aiming for that flavor of sexuality and depiction we in the West have acquired). We had a collection of paintings and sculptures available for when we were able to get a subject to agree to a position, ranging from the classics of the ancient world—Roman and Greek marbles and bronze—through Renaissance classics, impressionist works, and even some early modern pieces.