Elle Mehrmand will attach a sensor to her hand. It will measure the speed and intensity of her movement as she masturbates for one hour. Behind a locked door, she will invite viewers to look in through the peephole as she plays her Sextrument. The sensor will run through an audio program creating sound, which is directly affected by her hand gestures. A speaker will project her voice and the sound sensed outside of the door.
Date: Dec 5, 2008Start Time: 6:30pm
Duration: 1 hour
Location: Visual Arts Facility
Tags: audio, experimental, performance, sex
One Comment
When the crowd was there, Elle Mehrmand’s “Sextrument” functioned partly as peep show, partly as carnival oddity. Her audible sighs, amplified to the outside of Mehrmand’s studio as she masturbated inside, heralded the show and entertained visitors as they waited patiently in line for a peek into the studio. What they got when they had their chance at looking through a small hole was a vague glance at a torso, moving in time to the moans and sighs.
But when the crowd thinned out and the sighs took precedence over what had been a remarkable din, the visitors who straggled in got to spend a bit more time with the piece. No longer put on stage to such an extent as those traveling in the art pack, visitors looked and then looked again. One woman walked away then stopped in her tracks, bowed her head and seemed to close her eyes as she listened intently. The same thing that appeared nearly funny to the group was suddenly transformed into something almost disturbing.
This feeling intensified as Mehrmand’s performance went on for the full one hour duration of the show. What is left is a nearly haunting memory of these sounds in the night.
– Sheryl Oring