Torture Garden: A BDSM Tea Party. You’re invited!
This concept is loosely based on a ‘Naked Tea Party’ event I heard about that happens in Berlin. In this visual exploration, I wanted to contrast leather and bondage textures with dated floral antique aesthetics. In diving into the online sex community, I learned how events can serve as a consensual space for sex workers to organize within a safe space. At the inception of this project, I wondered what these spaces might look like. Especially in the technological climate in which we are living, where the metaverse takeover seems everso looming. What kind of spaces and events could be created for sex workers within the metaverse?
Concept Moodboard
For this project, I utilized 3D tools (Cinema4D) to bring the concept of ‘Torture Garden’ to life. This was my first ever time using 3D software, and this was an extremely ambitious project to start with for a beginner. As frustrating and intimidating C4D was, I was determined to bring this vision to life. This project is a conceptual investigation, but also my personal deep dive into this labyrinth of a software.
Ms. Andry is a dominatrix & cage dancer character I created. In investigating the various ways virtual reality can impact the sex work industry, I thought of how avatars might play a role.
The BDSM or bondage community is known for its leather/latex/PVC dress code. Ms. Andry is a digital dominatrix who commands the attention of her submissives, as well as her audience as a cage dancer. I wanted to add a bit of softness and complexity to this dominatrix character. Yes, she is a dominatrix, but she also loves to dance! Digital avatars could serve as a proxy for sex workers when interacting with clientele.
What kind of objects could be found in the cybersex metaverse?
In understanding the pillars and foundations of the world of sex work, we must understand the tethered relationship between pleasure and pain. Although it may seem counterintuitive, the lines between pain and pleasure are blurred in a state of arousal. Research shows that sensations of pain and pleasure activate the same neural mechanisms in the brain. With that, I created the ‘Tattoo Magic Wand’, a single object that embodies both pleasure and pain in the same swift vibrating movement. To put it plainly, the Tattoo Magic Wand is a vibrator on one end, and a tattoo machine on the other.
