Starting Thursday and going through the weekend, a group of scifi-minded sex geeks will gather in San Francisco at the annual Arse Elektronika conference. Here are some highlights from the program, including contributions from a couple of io9 editors.
You can read all about the conference and performances on the Arse Elektronika website.
On Thursday, there's a nighttime performance at Chez Poulet at 9 PM:
An unobjectionable award for sex machines, orgasmotrons and teledildonics
A gala hosted by monochrom's Johannes Grenzfurthner
With a superspecial keynote by Susie Bright (All Along the SexTower: Sex on Stage in America, from Susie Bright's Reporters Notebook)
Featuring many guests stars, like Thomas S. Roche, Charlie Anders (Erotic mind control via the Internet), Rose White/Rich Gibson and Elle Mehrmand and Micha Cárdenas (virus.circus)!
Our gala will be a dignified occasion — and so we invite you to dress up properly. Surprise us with Atompunk and 1950s costumes... and maybe win a "Golden Kleene" yourself!
And on Saturday, before the coffin sex, there will be several extremely erudite presentations about sex and technology. I love this array of crazy science fiction/science/sex presentations that straddle the line between academic credibility and outright perversion. The madness starts at 12:00 noon, at Parisoma:
CONFERENCE FOR BRAINY PERVS
Saturday, October 2, 2010
12:00 noon
ParisomaDesigning Spaces for Sex: Expanding the Intimate Possibilities of the Built Environment
Ella Saitta
12:00 noonSex, Spaces, Feminism
Ben Dagan
1 PMBlowing Your Load: The Office Shooting Spree as Sexual Metaphor
Philip Freeman
2 PM"Don't Ingest": Interspecies Romance in the Mass Effect Series
Adam Flynn
3 PM(Break)
The Interlinking Structure of Porn Sites - How Dreams, Desires and Dongs interconnect on the World Wide Web
Svenja Schroeder
4:30 PMCasino, Automobile, Public Square: The Problems of Virtual Space
Mae Saslaw
5:30 PMPeople's Pornography: Sex and Synchronization on the Chinese Internet
Katrien Jacobs
6:30 PMOn The Importance Of Having Sex With Monsters
Annalee Newitz
7:30 PM
Making Spaces for Sex: From Rituals to Parties to Playa
Hosted by Carol Queen
8:30 PM