This research talk explores the work of Lotte de Jong and Antonia Hernández addressing the spatial construction of desire on sex webcam platforms and real estate role-playing pornography. Through an overview of different artworks created between 2018-2024, the authors highlight how these digital spaces serve as unique sites for investigating issues related to housing anxiety and desire, the governance of visibility, and the representation and inhabitation of virtual environments. They will also address the benefits and challenges of using arts-based methods and interdisciplinary collaboration to explore rapidly changing phenomena.

After the talk, we invite you to join us for a screening of Jong’s and Hernández’s Fantasy Lane (work in progress) which will take place on the same day at 5 pm at the Visualization Studio (Webster Library, LB-314.00).

Fantasy Lane explores the libidinal aspect of the housing crisis and unattainable fantasies about homeownership through the rise of real estate role-playing porn videos. These videos are transformed through computer vision, turning the spaces into 3D navigable environments that, accompanied by ASMR narration and user-generated comments, allow the exploration of desired spaces rendered from abstraction and probabilities.

Bios

Lotte Louise de Jong is a Rotterdam-based multidisciplinary artist with a film and lens-based media background. Through website-based works, VR, and video installations, she explores identity, intimacy, economy, and sexuality in the digital realm. Lotte's research-driven approach combines humor with critical reflection to shed light on our hidden online lives and societal impact.

Antonia Hernández is an artist and assistant professor in the Communication department at Concordia University, Montréal. Her work explores the poetic dimensions of governance and the domestic aspects of platforms. Currently, she is developing a video opera addressing the financialization of water in Chile.

Cover image credit: Lotte de Jong & Antonia Hernández