‘Village Porn’, the Premiere Solo of Virtue Village: Recording of an Unapologetically Lustful Feast
Ch.1: Visitor or Villager?
The metres-long wall-mounted tableau as a part of the installation ‘Village Porn’ immediately caught my sight as I started my ‘village tour’ (greeted by Ysabelle and led by Willem @mr.molesworth ). Similar to Qingming Shanghe Tu, it depicts the villagers’ daily. Waste, lesbian sex, shapeshifting rituals and flames are only parts of the bizarre happenings in this fictional pre-modern secluded land.
Moving a few steps forward and passing through a narrow corridor to an obscure corner, I came across the ‘Sex Stains’ series, three burnt quilted polyurethane with pastel and coloured pencil drawings. The environment, illustrations and narratives together resemble pre-historic cave drawings that record early human activities. ‘Am I a new villager or villager-to-be here? Or am I visiting an archaeological site that gives us hints on the recreational (queer) sex activities of a long-lost tribe?’ I pondered.
A 3-minute video came last as a wrap-up to this intense, wild and fantastic journey. The hedonistic statement and the provoking imagery from a performance by @siufong_yeung gave an intense endnote to this voyage. Segregated by a lace portiere, I drew a distance with the religious, ancient-like ambience outside the tiny room. As the performance footage looped on the mounted TV screen, my perception of this tour shifted again - to an invitation to an alternative religion.
Returning to the reception area, a bottle of Rush, a popular chemical substance among the gay community, sits quietly on the table. Again, it questions us. Is it a fetish dream, hallucination, or an alternative reality? I prefer to leave it fluid.
Ch.2: Do machines love humans?
Turning to the back, ‘Machinal Dysphoria’, characterised as a bound half-motorcycle part, occupies the centre of the main exhibition area. A small portion is barely lifted with Shibari ropes, while most of it still touches the ground. According to Willem, the mechanical part was meant to direct towards and become a part of ‘RUSH’, yet it fell down and was left half tied. It is interesting as you might wonder if it conveys the intention of a seemingly lifeless machine.
In ‘Amyl Liminality’, masculinity and femininity (as suggested by the underlying materiality of the automobile fender and the lace decoration) are blended and thus blurred, accentuating an essence of the queer culture. Particularly its rusted iron duct flange, it refers the importance of reproduction is diminished or even detached in the queer community. While romance with cyborgs is no longer a pure fantasy nowadays, becoming intimate with machinery should be a worthwhile discussion.
Embedding sensual interactions with machinery and introducing the idea of respecting the machine’s intention (staying still instead of getting close or entering the painting) takes another step forward.
To me, the fallen half-motorcycle was a beautiful accident. Since bondage aims to induce sensual pleasure through consensually tying or binding, putting it on a non-humanoid body again challenges our perspective on intimate relationships. Projecting from a human point of view onto the work, it can also symbolise repressed sensuality or lewd desires (sex drives). The procedurally unfinished piece leaves the discussion open.
Bondage by queer Shibari artist @aka.ropeart
