Sensorship

Abstract

Throughout the history of narrative, the unknown is embodied in a vessel, labeled as Monstrous. With his book, Skin Show: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters, gender and queer theorist Jack Halbersteam states that, “(monstrosity) is the product of and the symbol of the transformation of identity into sexual identity through the mechanism of failed repression.” Through a queer lens, this project addresses an amalgam of social fears associated with the human body as Monstrous, by inviting participants to touch sensors placed on a sculpture of a nude male body in order to view a projected image. The body serves as an interface to view fragmented pieces of media. Through an oppositional and often violent context , the imagery is emblematic of queer history. Though my research is somewhat linear, the videos displayed are activated is at random, creating a collage of images, projected behind the sculpture, it attempts to sum up queer history by association. The participants confront the heteronormative, male-dominated gaze of media by having the restricted in the open; out of a Monstrous vessel.