These GIFs are about sex: ‘Technophilia’ art show looks at sexuality in the internet age

Technophilia isn’t your typical art exhibit — it combines “cum shots” from male muses and metaphors for visual orgasms. Technophilia is Faith Holland’s first solo exhibition. The goal: changing the way visitors see feminism in the internet age.
“Some of what she is interested in doing is putting out a very explicit but fun, optimistic view of what sexuality is, specifically for a woman after the internet,” said Kelani Nichole, the director of TRANSFER Gallery, which is showcasing the exhibit. “There is a lot of imagery that is erotic. It’s not explicitly sexual, it’s more implied sexuality.”
The opening reception for Technophilia is this Saturday, June 13, from 6-11 p.m.
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Technophilia features a series of image collections, including one called “Visual Orgasms.”
“It’s kind of all of these funny metaphors for orgasms, it’s like champagne corks popping, fireworks exploding, popcorn popping and birds and bees inside flowers,” Nichole said.

All in all, the show is rumination on tech and sex becoming increasingly inseparable.
“I sleep inches away from my phone; it is the last thing I see at night and the first thing I see in the morning, regardless of who or what else is in my bed,” Holland writes. “I gently massage my laptop’s pressure points as I write this text. I caress screens throughout the day. I softly cup a mouse in my right hand as it grazes across my desk. This is the new intimacy.”
Another of Holland’s series — “Ookie Canvas” — has received attention from across the globe. Holland sent out an “open call” for this piece by teasing it with “Are You a Man Who Has Ever Been a Muse?” to help her increase participation.
“For the ‘Ookie Canvas’ she isolates cum shots from pornography so she’ll combine these cum shots on a giant canvas and digital painting composition,” Nichole said of the two abstract canvases.

The exhibition includes an audio track, essays by Seth Watter and Nora O’Murchu and even a collection called “GIFs to Have Sex By.”
“It closes on July 11, but a number of artists have been invited to contribute an animated GIF to the collection so there will be a big screening party at the end as well,” said Nichole.
One of the primary purposes of the exhibit is to offer visitors a new perspective on sexuality, Nichole said.
“If anything, I am hoping that people do feel a little uncomfortable, maybe a little aroused,” she said of Holland’s work. “I’m hoping they think a little about sexual imagery and how sexuality is portrayed in the media and how there is a multitude of different perspectives when it comes to sexuality.”