fictive porn

FICTIVE NET / PORN

Site:

BANGKOK HELLO GIRLS Paul Clay - New York based, art, media, USA

Site Description:
Explicates the huge problem of trafficking in women in South Asia. The site documents the mechanics of the business, and the actual personal plight of a number of women. (The Quotes are real or come from personal sources, but names have been changed for the sake of privacy.)

A common front page for porn sites involves a single image, sliced into sections, with each section linked to a different part of the site. Here, the front end of a Thai women porn site is reassembled in random order, with a "motion blur" filter applied to mask pornographic content. Images link to pages with text from actual interviews with Thai women who suffered from sex trafficking or have worked in the sex trade. Further text comes from a variety of different sources including "sex Tourism" sites that provide information on Thai prostitution for perspective Western customers. The contrast of the stories of real women with the text from Western exploitation sites, makes for a shocking and revealing contrast.

The blurred images refer not to censorship, prudery and conservatism, but rather to the way porn can hide oppression suffered by individuals. Thus the obscured images help to provide a clear picture of the lives of these women, and of the entire institutionalized system they are trapped in.

The site name refers to women who's job it is to encourage men to enter bars and other establishments. In Thailand a woman who does this work is referred to as a "Hello Girl."

Site Creator:
Paul Clay is a visual artist who works in a wide variety of media. He designed the set for the Pulitzer prize winning Broadway Musical RENT. He received a 1997 Municipal Arts Society Times Square Spectacular Award from Tibor Kalman for his re-design of the marquee and exterior of the Nederlander theater. He has done set, lighting, and video design for Mabou Mines, Susan Marshal, Tom Noonan, and many others in the New York City community. He has also done projects with Steve Shill and Philip McKenzie at the ICA in London, and with Beth B. in New York. He received a Bessie award in 91, and an NEA/TCG Fellows grant for 93/94. He served as visual advisor on Tom Noonan's feature film WHAT HAPPENED WAS..., (94 Grand Jury Prize, Sundance and Silver Hugo Award, Chicago International Film Festival.) In 1999 he created FICTIVE BOUTIQUE with Yukiko Takagi, A fake clothing store as art project. He shows photography, new media, and fashion related art work in the underground night scene, alternative gallery spaces, and on line. He is a founding member of Fictive (www.fictive.net.) He is also a member of the Artists Alliance Inc. - a collective of 65 artists based in New York's Lower East Side He is currently gallery Director for CUCHIFRITOS, AAI's art gallery / project space.

URL: http://www.fictive.net