Robots do not sweat. Computers do not sweat. Iphones also do not sweat. Until we become cyborgs, humans will not be both digital and sweat. Until that day in time, we have only the online gallery Digital Sweat, “a platform for digital artists to explore sexual and erotic themes.” For the gallery’s first exhibition, also titled Digital Sweat, over 30 digital artists have created GIFs and JPEGs for the standalone site. We’re going to be looking at these GIFs over the next week, and like the critics that we are, we’re taking the critical GIF to the next level of critique.
With Digital Sweat, we’re curious: Does the vertical scroll format benefit the exhibition? Why a standalone website? Why are many of these GIFs the same size? Can you make sexy, erotic work without pulling out a dick? These are just a few questions we’re asking.
Sam Rolfes has made a GIF strewn with Internet blue spaghetti, a face that might have genitals pushing out of its sides, a smaller figure rising out of that eye-less head, and a pale white honeycomb (or skin? or thickly daubed paint?) layer. I have no idea what’s going on in these various feats of bodily and painterly athleticism— A for complexity.
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