Process 1.13

Post-crit reflection and conceptual ideation:

One thing that was noted and I felt really worked with the piece was the uncanny ambiguity of the direction and exact interpretation of the installation. (ignoring the lube for now and referring to people's reactions after it was wiped off) It became an experience for the viewer that made them think about these objects that are symbols of desire, sexuality, arousal, taboo in a sense, and often the subject of male gaze. Which we then took out of context of an actual physical female body and put them on display to be touched. Some said that this created a dissociation and since they were breasts, but weren't really a woman's breasts, they saw no reason why not to touch them.

But, there was also an element of feeling uncomfortable to touch them, or creating a situation of deeming whether or not it would be socially acceptable to touch these breasts that are lit in an alluring way. This is where the decreasing amount of available light came into play, because as the viewer was getting closer to them, figuring out whether or not they were able to touch them, or if they wanted to touch them, their actions were less and less visible to other onlookers. This part creates an interesting interplay that I didn't previously think about: what the interacter's actions are vs. being watched by onlookers, and how those actions are affected by the visibility of those actions (less and less light to totally darkness). The total darkness achieved by when someone is actually touching the breasts also creates a usually brief, but could be however long as desired, moment, where no one can see what the interacter is doing and the only active senses for the interacter are tactile.

With this, several concepts come up that one could talk about when I think about the piece: indulgence, taboo, unrealized or realized desire, ability to act freely, freedom from judgment, in general the potential for exploitation when no one is watching, full exposure, exposure as potential for liberating choice or unwanted and forced, acceptable and unacceptable behavior coined against no one would know, acceptable behavior on a spectrum which relates to the space, context, environment, surrounding people, society, personal values/opinions; strange but lighthearted playfulness as a reaction, immaturity and jokes, potential for repulsivity, how comfortable or uncomfortable people are and how it relates to the way they interact with the piece.

Stemming from this uncomfortable/comfortable idea, this iteration has been deemed mostly uncomfortable, intriguing, but in a strange way. What would be interesting is to see how different of a piece it would be if it were construed in a comforting setting. What if we made people feel comfortable with the idea of touching these objects instead of putting them on display in an ambiguous and uncanny setting? How would the two iterations engage the viewers differently? How can you invoke a sense of security and welcoming and intertwine it with the interaction of a new iteration/installation of the piece?