The Department of Sexual Revolutions Studies - Workshop Hook

Week five- Hook

Technology has the potential to produce conditions of sexual equity, empowerment, and even healing, and has been responsible for the creation of sexual communities, as well as contemporary categories of identity. On the other hand, many online platforms operate off highly gendered censorship protocols, while others use punitive and discriminative actions against sex workers. With the understanding that sex is a form of affective labour, this final session looks at the ‘hook-up’ as a prevalent practice in neoliberal and post-monogamous society.

The Department of Sexual Revolutions Studies

The Department of Sexual Revolutions Studies is a collaboration between the Van Abbemuseum and the Design Academy Eindhoven, lead by Eimear Walshe as part of the Deviant Practice Research Programme. The department is a new learning platform invested in critical enquiry on the subject of sexual revolution in art, design and visual culture. The public are invited to join the five weekly sessions at the Van Abbemuseum.
Combining the interests and methodologies of queer theory and gender studies, it also seeks to emphasise the legacy of sexual revolution outside of Europe and America. Rather than a focus solely on the liberalisation of attitudes around sexual practices, it will look at examples of antagonism, transgression, inversion and repression as moments which reveal power and inequality. The department has a particular interest in strategies which wield sexuality as a force for social change, from ‘sex strikes’ to ‘kiss-ins’, whether through the power of its visibility, or the threat of its absence. In each session we will ask: how can contemporary sexual practices help us to better understand the relationship between sexuality and society today, including issues such as politics, housing, and technology?