[rohrpost] ARSE ELEKTRONIKA 2013: A festival on sex and technology

[j. grenzfurthner/monochrom (das ende der nahrungskette)]

ARSE ELEKTRONIKA 2013
A festival on sex and technology

Theme 2013: "ID/ENTITY"
Talks, machines, games, workshops and performances.

General info: http://www.monochrom.at/arse-elektronika/
Schedule: http://www.monochrom.at/arse-elektronika/schedule.html
Tickets: https://arseelektronika2013.eventbrite.com/

October 3-6, 2013 in San Francisco, USA.
At Chez Poulet, Center for Sex and Culture, Noisebridge

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monochrom's Conference on sex and technology!

Sex, technology, identity... big-ass sweeping themes for Arse Elektronika 2013.

Identity, but also identification. Technologies for the exploration 
of identities. Technologies for the articulation and performance of 
identities. Technologies for the enforcement of hegemonic identities. 
Technologies for the verification of identities. For example: What 
about the vast fencing-off of the old wild internet; the #nym-wars 
and the push for "real names"?

We typically assume there is 'something' that takes and/or performs 
an identity. What is this entity? Are awareness and consciousness 
strictly limited to and made sense of in human experience alone? How 
is identity understood and made sense of in terms of artificial 
intelligence? What might transhuman, android, or cyborg identities 
consist of? What does sexual desire mean to a dolphin?

We have technology-based identities. If we are to agree that agency 
is a key factor in identity AND position technology as 
extension/manipulation of agency, then is technology an identity in 
and of itself?

The Bay Area, famous as a place to "find yourself," also hosts vast 
projects to organize and catalog the world's identities, whether they 
want that or not. So, how does the Californian Ideology drive 
identity politics and techno-sexuality?

Will apps like Bang With Friends and gadgets like Google Glass 
provide us with the ultimate gonzo pornoverse? And why are services 
like LinkedIn explicitly banning escorts from using the site to get clients?

What have been the social ramifications of Web 2.0, ten years on? By 
what means have queer users of dating sites and social networks 
reframed or otherwise hacked the systems surrounding them? What is 
the design history of the drop-down gender menu- and its 
alternatives? How did Facebook's inclusion of "in an open 
relationship" as a standard option for one's relationship status 
affect youth mores? What has been the effect of location-based hookup 
apps on the architecture of cruising? What are the economics of niche 
dating sites, and how are they policed? What are the ethical 
obligations surrounding the ability to algorithmically identify those 
who are in the closet?

What technologies could ensure more flexible, fluid identities? What 
would TSA protocols look like if they were designed from a queer 
perspective? What does counter-surveillant fashion look like? How 
might we ensure the right not to be found? (Should we?) Are there 
technologies for anonymity that do not also afford stalking and 
harassment? Are there technologies for transparency that do not also 
afford stalking and harassment?

If an identity requires recognition (either by the self or through 
the Other), then is it ever possible to be "truly" or "identifiably" 
queer? Is 'queer identity' an oxymoron?

Former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit warns that legalizing gay marriage 
in the UK "opens up the possibility of a lesbian queen giving birth 
to a future monarch by artificial insemination." Interesting times 
for sex tech? Indeed!

What about a historic dimension? What were techno-sexual systems of 
identity like in the past? What were the technologies of masked 
rituals? What technologies drove the invention of privacy? How did 
the adoption of fingerprinting change the regulation of prostitution 
in the early 20th century? Besides hanky-flagging, what 
techniques/technologies were used to signal 'deviant' interests? How 
was handwriting judged in the evaluation of potential lovers? What is 
the techno-social history of the "secret admirer?"

How will technological progress change the way we see ourselves? What 
are we without our iPhone and our beloved designer vibrator? Is the 
Marxian commodity fetish actually entering the sphere of (what a 
wordplay!) customization fetishism?

If orgasm patterns are unique and impossible to duplicate, could 
one's sexual response be the ultimate biometric identifier? So, how 
worried should we be about the spectre of sphincter-printing?

What about Big Data in a sexual context? Does size matter?

What about a decent ontological debate with your buttplug's AI?

Well... dear entities out there, with your proud Egos, Super-Egos and 
Hyper-Egos! Never forget that there is an Id lurking round the 
corner! The real Voight-Kampff test is not minding that it hurts!