Lotte's Text on Method

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Text on Methodology — DRAFT


Lotte Louise de Jong

My recent research focuses on the intimate relation we have with technology and the ‘online’. Identity and sexuality are the major subject in my work. More specifically I am interested in the way we view and shape our sexual identity through mediated forms of bodily representation. Often my method of working involves investigating what reveals or remains when you put pornographic content and references in another context. 

In my work I try to create a space where people can reflect their own idea’s and opinions. Although theoretic research informs my work to me it’s very important that my work communicates on its own, without people having to read this research.
As a documentary maker I also tried to create films that reflect upon a certain subject without it becoming pamphletistic. Everyone already walks around with their own idea’s and opinions I just want to give them the possibility to view certain things from a different (or closer) perspective. This room for people to reflect is very important to me but at the same time I don’t want my work to be vague. I hope that when people see my work it’s clear to them what subjects it touches upon and what questions resonate through the work.

Most of my work is also a reflection on the medium itself. Maybe not so much on what we use, but how we use it; webcams, porn, Instagram, Facebook.. Of course I also read the papers, watch news, shows, films etc. They influence my work in another way, either aesthetically or subject-wise. 
Gaming is one of the media I consume that I’m not sure of yet. I do find it a very interesting media and culture that I would like to implement in my work more. I have not felt the need to do this yet but I can definitely see it happening somewhere in the near future. 

My practice also comes really close to who I am as a person, I always like to talk about taboo’s or things other people would think better not to be discussed in public. Wether it’s personal problems or sexuality, for me making certain things public works liberating and gives more room for reflection and opens up the possibility for other point of views

For a long time I’ve been intrigued by the world of sex-webcam websites. On the one hand it’s an extremely personal space supported by a strong online community on the other hand their body’s are viewed as objects and perform for ‘token’ rewards.

One of my recent video works is BRB. BRB is a poetic observation of online sex webcams where the absence of sex is the focus of the work. In text we follow the online community chat, users talking amongst other users. For a long time I’ve been intrigued by the world of sex webcam’s. On the one hand it’s quite a personal space where (a big part of) the girls are in control of their own action and environment. A lot of them identify themselves as feminists. On the other hand they are objectified and (mostly) men ask them to do stuff for tokens. Like in other work I made regarding pornography, I work from a curiousness of what remains or reveals itself if you take away the pornographic content and put the imagery in another context. The empty rooms become a poetic reflection of what is not there. The images are collected form the website chaturbate.com. The recordings are made when the girls are gone, just after they left or before they come back. The chat that occurs when the girls are gone sometimes create funny situations where others have a darker context. 

The girls working (or just playing) behind the webcam’s objectify their body by displaying it. By viewing the body as an object through a digital lens, (sometimes even disconnecting the body completely from the self by not showing the face), the body can be seen as something different, something disembodied almost. This gives people participating in webcam-sex the opportunity to almost from a distance view their body and see their body being viewed and desired without the self intervening in this objectification. 1

But by taking this actor away, this objectification doesn’t distract you anymore and you are left to wonder who these persons are and what happend in the moments before.

In this work my different fascinations and interest come together; sexuality, ownership of body, the power structure and distribution regarding online sex and sex-work, identity, online communities, and privacy.

For a workshop I did led by artist Shimon Attie I came up with the idea of working with a website that I’ve know for a while now. It’s a dutch review site where you can review sex-workers. Me and Sal worked together on this project. It fascinated me because of the explicitness and the harshness (the extremeness, the shock) but also the fact that people would actually advise each other on sex-workers. We took these reviews as a starting point for the work and came across the term ‘holiday’ a lot. Most of the sex-workers in Holland are not originally dutch and come here with false pretences. It’s a thing amongst these reviewers or ‘clientele’ to keep track of where the (mostly) girls are (i.e. if they moved windows/city’s, etc). They use the term holiday a lot to describe the sex-workers mostly going back home for a while to visit their family’s. The reviewers sugar-coating the sex but also the visit back home was something that interested me and Sal. We took topical holiday items and sexualised and in that way literally ‘objectified’ them and put these reviews underneath. On the other screen we show a rendering of an ocean, also a make-believe.

On Holiday is a collection of online reviews of sex workers in the Netherlands. Customers can give ratings, comments and even feedback. Many of these make reference to sex workers going "on holiday" or "away for vacation", and consequently not available to customers. Perhaps a euphemism or a happy reprieve, we are left to imagine their holidays. 


During the research on Chaturbate website for my BRB project, I came across the “moderator” phenomena.

• A moderator is a Chaturbate user who works alongside the broadcaster to ensure a quality broadcast for the broadcaster and viewers alike.
 
  
• Moderators can communicate directly with the broadcaster, encourage viewers to tip in order to reach a goal, give insight to viewers should a problem with the broadcast arise, and much more.
 
  
• Maybe the most important job a moderator has, is to watch the chat log during the broadcast. By carefully examining what is being said by viewers during the broadcast, moderators can silence a user for breaking any rules a broadcaster might have.
 
  
• Certain language, requests, or behavior might be offensive to the broadcaster, and it is up to the moderator to decide whether or not to continue to allow that person to view a broadcast.
 
  
• Broadcasters have the ability to set an expiration for Moderators on Chaturbate. The options are from 1 day to 6 months. This can be set under the "Settings & Privacy" tab.
  

Source: https://support.chaturbate.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2744557-what-is-a-mod-
To become a moderator on Chaturbate for example, you have to be appointed one by the girls that own that particular chat room.

Mostly these are guys that are a ‘fan’ of the girls and help them keep the ‘scum’ out.
“[…]moderators do not get paid for being moderators. They are volunteers who want to do some favor to their broadcasters.” 3 The idea of these moderators fascinate me. Who are these (mostly) men, why do they do this? How do they see the relationship they have with the screen, with this weird space on the internet.

As I identify myself as mostly heterosexual, also in this world of online webcams and pornography I mostly focus on heterosexual webcam rooms and users. At this point I am trying to contact a couple of these moderators to see if I can talk to them personally. As with the BRB project I am very interested what the ‘real’ space behind the webspace tells.

1 The naked self: Being a Body in Televideo Cybersex 2.https://support.chaturbate.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2744557-what-is-a-mod- 3. https://www.cammodelplaza.com/how-to-be-a-moderator-on-chaturbate.html

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Things to still add: My practice relating to feminism & pornography as a subject.