Show-n-tell reads from "webAffairs"

Studio Soto announces a Valentine’s Day reading and presentation with artist, “Show-n-tell”, from her new book, webAffairs. The event is free (with suggested donation) and begins at 8 PM.

The book webAffairs is a four years long documentation of a webcam community where people come to have virtual sex. From Saturday, Feb 10 thru Wed, Feb 14, webcam stills from webAffairs will be projected on Studio Soto’s windows in Fort Point from 4 PM-2AM. The book will be available for purchasing during the event.

“ webAffairs truly captures what it means to belong to an adult online community. In fact, it's the best window to cyber relationships — and their effect on offline relationships — I've seen.”Regina Lynn, Wired News

"This book will be relevant to anyone interested in gender, sexuality and especially the construction of gender and identities through internet technology. But it stands as an art work in its own right. "Show-n-tell" is actually a metaphor for this form of artistic practice."Andrea Dahlberg, Leonardo online

webAffairs is an artist’s documentation of a webcam community where people come to have virtual sex. The artist, Show-n-tell, tells her story of being a voyeur and eventually becoming part of this community through a series of images and actual chat text. Initially shy, she asks men to show her their rooms. She finds naked men by their computers in their office spaces, living rooms and bedrooms. She collects images of their naked bodies juxtaposed with their surrounding computer equipment.

Eventually she becomes a regular within the community and makes friends. People share their personal crises with her. The main narrative, however, is told through Show-n-tell’s voice. She participates in the community both as an observer and a performer. After a while she has her own virtual sex show but as a married woman she too negotiates the limits of her explorations within virtual space with her real-life partner.

The electronic images gathered in chat rooms are transformed as photographic stills in the book. Because of the limits of the technology the image disintegrates into pixels which speak to a new sensibility in image making. The text also takes on an electronic accent. The members of virtual communities have transformed the English language by using acronyms that are incomprehensible to the outsider and yet are understood even by non-English speakers.

This artist’s book is a documentation of Show-n-tell’s navigation through erotic virtual space. But like most documentaries, the material has been electronically edited and graphically redesigned to dramatically communicate her story.

The author “Show-n-tell” was trained as a graphic designer and an artist. She has been designing personal work for the medium of the Web practically since its inception in the early '90s. She grew up in Turkey and upon graduation from high school came to the U.S. to continue her studies where she has lived and worked ever since. Between 2001 and 2005, “Show-n-tell” has been working on a documentary project "webAffairs", of her participation in the culture of adult video chatrooms. She is currently teaching and residing in the Boston area when she is not online in her Second Life as "Show-n-tell Evelyn".


Studio Soto is located at 63 Melcher Street, Fort Point Boston 02218.
Phone (617)426-7686 http://www.studiosoto.com
Press information: [email protected]
All of Studio Soto’s events are free with suggested donation of $5-$10.