Constructing signs of women who seduce young men to war by connecting the sexual desire to the blood letting becomes an announcement of a period of time when the law will not be followed, and any imaginary power women might have in the system of exchanged is relinquished during this time. All of the repressed desires, the taboos surface with an explosive force and the underlying hidden agenda becomes visible.
The body represented in these clashing worlds still follows the same established rules, yet the technology used confuses the issue. The materiality of words and the body representation in a newly evolving arena of cyberspace brings up all the issues of Judith's Butler Bodies that Matter. Words are the materiality and the body is immaterial. An example of this is the incident of a rape on the network, all transpiring through the use of language, being just as shocking and damaging.
Virtual reality is better. Who creates it for you? Paul Virilio writes: "A war of pictures and sounds is replacing the war of objects (projectiles and missiles). In a technicians' version of an all-seeing Divinity, ever ruling out an accident and surprise, the drive is on for a general system of illumination that will allow everything to be seen and known, at every moment and in every place." Soldiers trained with virtual reality wars get seduced by images of girls dressed in combat suits. The girl, like a cyborg, seduces you with the idea of going to war. The young boys are going to fight for her body, unite with the hard bombs, explode inside her. The combat suit takes them back to the imaginary jungle where the animalistic instincts play out and the reality of life is perpetuated in the present by the ever-present threat of death. The orgasmic explosions into the space deny the existence of the nurturing space and the virtual reality past is no different from the war. It's better; the real world is warmer, colder, faster, more frightening and empowering. No more training goggles. The boys are free to really die and the training made them so prepared for that moment--from the Nintendo days to Guns 'n Roses to the virtual war games in the army camp. The picture of the girl is inviting you to the world where she has no power and no say.
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Exhibitions
- Remember Yugoslavia, LA International, Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 1995; ART in GENERAL, New York City, NY, 1995
- Art & Design, SIGGRAPH Conference, Orlando, FL, July 24th – 29th, 1994
- NEW ART, Cyberspace Gallery, EZTV Media Center, Los Angeles, CA, 1992
