Cloud Breathe Lust is a speculative design artefact that explores the relationship between erotic aspects of sexuality and inclusive technologies. Inspired by sex toys and soma design, it engages the body and creates somatic sensations through breathing and temperature changes while also being a communication tool for the feeling of lust in a teasing way. It involves two persons. When one breathes into the cloud, the air is translated into heat on the other person’s arm as an indication of lust, and a mediated intimate space is established. The experience can also be supported by eye contact and whispering between the two persons.
The artefact as an inclusive technology builds on the idea of designing with special attention to marginalised bodies. By communicating lust non-verbally and non-gendered, it allows anyone to use it (or to choose not to use it). The artefact is a device from a near future where sexual integrity is supported in the healthcare system for people with physical and cognitive disabilities (such as e.g. cerebral palsy or autism). Also, in this near future, recognition as a sexual subject is by the general public regarded as central for living a good life and is therefore something that everyone has gained. The artefact is designed within the understanding of representation as care, as described by María Puig de la Bellacasa in 2011 in the article “Matters of care in technoscience: Assembling neglected things”.
We wired a microphone and a heating panel together with an Arduino in between. The main parts are covered with felt shaped respectively as a fluffy cloud and a thick butterfly. The heating panel is worn with a bracelet of velcro.
The artefact is the first material exploration which is part of the PhD project “Exploring Futures of Sexuality”. More will follow.
PROJECT MEMBERS
Anna Brynskov, Halfdan Hauch Jensen, supervised by Jonas Fritsch
DATE
March 1st 2024