"Gay Under Glass", "TinderFlick", "Tough Guy / Big Red X", "A Handsome Man"

BACKGROUND The show "Radicalism" intended to raise "important questions around the politics of queer identity in the early 21st century. Does identity still matter in our understanding of queerness? Where are the boundaries that limit discourses of queerness in our contemporary culture? Is queerness still linked to radicalism in any way?" (Pettifer, 2014). CONTRIBUTION My own contribution involved a critique of (gay) online dating apps such as Grindr and Tinder in a series of digital artworks. It explored how dating apps produce increasingly fixed digital representations of sexualized bodies online. "TinderFlick" and "Gay Under Glass" were iPad apps on one iPad screen. In these two works users interacted by swiping and manipulating bodies with their finger, connecting the idea of the reductive judgment of sexualized bodies to the swipe gestures of glass interfaces. In "TinderFlick" users can swipe an onslaught of bodies into the "yes" or "no" pile, just like the processes users can go through when judging the profiles of suitors online. In "Gay Under Glass" users can manipulate a male body around under the screen, alluding to the perception of control users have over others where bodies are presented as objects online. "Tough Guy / Big Red X" sees this process highlighted by a user blocking every user, one by one, in their area; a mechanized, defensive and masculine process. "A Handsome Man" is a print that was made from 3D assets during the production of the iPad app which caricatures and distends the sexual focus of the concerned dating apps. SIGNIFICANCE The works were well publicised as part of Midsumma Queer Festival and Radicalism was reviewed in many places including Gay News Network and Art Review. Radicalism was a large survey of Australian artists working with contemporary queer identity including Eric Bridgeman, Brown Council, Georgia Hutchison, Christopher Sciuto, Salote Tawale, Adele Varcoe, Sam Wallman and William Yang.

【背景】展览《激进主义》（Radicalism）旨在提出"21世纪初围绕酷儿身份政治的重要议题：在我们对酷儿性（queerness）的认知中，身份认同仍具意义吗？当代文化中限制酷儿话语的边界何在？酷儿性是否仍在某种程度上与激进主义相关联？"（佩蒂弗，2014）。【创作贡献】本研究以一系列数字艺术作品，对（男同）在线约会应用如Grindr、Tinder展开批判，探讨约会应用如何在线上生成愈发固化的性化身体数字表征。作品《TinderFlick》与《Gay Under Glass》均为运行于同一iPad屏幕的iPad应用：用户可通过手指滑动、操控身体形象，将对性化身体的简化式评判与玻璃触控界面的滑动手势相联结。在《TinderFlick》中，用户可将海量的身体形象滑动划入"认可"或"拒绝"队列，与在线评判征友者个人主页的流程如出一辙；在《Gay Under Glass》中，用户可在屏幕下操控男性身体形象，暗指当身体在网络中被呈现为客体时，用户所拥有的对他人的掌控感。作品《Tough Guy / Big Red X》则凸显了这一逻辑：用户逐一屏蔽所在区域内的所有其他用户，这是一套机械化、带有防御性且彰显男性气质的行为流程。作品《A Handsome Man》是基于前述iPad应用制作过程中的3D素材生成的版画，该作品夸张并放大了相关约会应用的性化聚焦倾向。【作品影响力】这些作品作为墨尔本盛夏酷儿艺术节（Midsumma Queer Festival）的参展项目获得广泛宣传，《激进主义》展览亦在包括《Gay News Network》与《Art Review》在内的多家平台获得评论报道。本次展览是对当代澳大利亚从事酷儿身份相关创作的艺术家的大型调研展，参展艺术家包括Eric Bridgeman、Brown Council、Georgia Hutchison、Christopher Sciuto、Salote Tawale、Adele Varcoe、Sam Wallman与William Yang。