Queer art has always been associated with challenging norms and pushing boundaries, exploring themes of identity, desire, and self-expression.
The recent emergence of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have opened up new possibilities for queer artists to experiment with visibility, transparency, and exposure in their work. These technologies provide opportunities to create immersive experiences that can blur the lines between fiction and reality, allowing viewers to experience the world from a different perspective.
In terms of visibility, queer artists have often used technology to create works that challenge traditional notions of gender and sexuality.
The artist Laurie Anderson's virtual reality installation "Delusion" uses VR to explore the fluidity of identity and gender through a series of interactive installations that allow the viewer to inhabit multiple identities. Similarly, the artist Jillian Mayer's VR film "Life After Flash" follows a young woman navigating her way through a dystopian future where gender is no longer relevant. Both works use technology to challenge traditional ideas about gender and sexuality, creating spaces for viewers to explore alternative realities.
Transparency is also an important theme in queer art, with many artists using technology to question the role of the artist and the audience. In the AR work "The Queering Machine," the artist Zach Blas creates a machine that generates images of queer people in various states of undress, forcing viewers to confront their own gaze and desires. The work challenges assumptions about who has power over what we see and why, questioning our cultural obsession with visibility and control. Similarly, the artist Miao Ying's VR installation "Song Ting" explores the idea of surveillance and privacy by placing the viewer inside a space where they are constantly observed. By subverting the power dynamic between artist and viewer, these works encourage us to rethink our relationship with each other and with technology.
Immersive technologies also offer new ways for queer artists to engage with eroticism and intimacy.
The VR experience "Virgin Territory" allows viewers to participate in a virtual orgy with four queer women, exploring the boundaries of consent and desire in a safe and consensual environment. The artist Harmony Korine's VR project "The OA" uses surreal imagery to create a dreamlike world where the viewer experiences different forms of love and attraction. These works blur the lines between reality and fantasy, inviting viewers to explore the complexity of human relationships and emotions.
As these examples show, digital technologies have opened up new possibilities for queer art to challenge norms and explore identity.
There is a danger that these technologies can be used to reinforce existing power dynamics or to exploit vulnerable communities. It is therefore important for queer artists to critically engage with these technologies, using them to empower rather than objectify others. As immersive technologies become more prevalent, it will be interesting to see how queer artists continue to push the boundaries of visibility, transparency, and exposure in their work.
How do debates about visibility, transparency, and exposure manifest in queer art, and how might AI, immersive, and generative technologies reshape aesthetic and philosophical engagement?
Debates about visibility, transparency, and exposure have long been present within queer art. Queer artists have often used their art as a means of exploring questions around identity politics and representation through various media forms such as visual art, performance art, music, film, and literature. These discussions have been shaped by both the personal experiences of the artist and larger social contexts that shape our understanding of gender and sexuality.