Photo/Foto: Cristhian Ávila

Technesexual

Technesexual consists of the performers engaging in playful erotic acts in physical and virtual space, while using handmade electronic stethoscopes to play the sound of their heartbeats in both spaces, blurring the lines between the two. Mixed Relations consists of a series of performances and workshops that explore the relations between bodies and technology within mixed realities.  The project involves two people performing in actual and virtual space. Live audio synthesis is achieved using Puredata to respond to body movements. These movements are detected through various technologies including marker based motion capture, flex sensors, pressure sensors, light sensors, accelerometers and the Nintendo Wii.

Biographies

Micha Cárdenas, is an artist/theorist who works in performance, wearable electronics, hacktivism and critical gender studies. She is a PhD student in Media Arts and Practice (iMAP) at University of Southern California and a member of Electronic Disturbance Theater 2.0. Her book The Transreal: Political Aesthetics of Crossing Realities, published by Atropos Press in 2012, discusses art that uses augmented, mixed and alternate reality, and the intersection of those strategies with the politics of gender, in a transnational context. She blogs at transreal.org and tweets at @michacardenas.

Elle Mehrmand is a performance/new media artist and musician who uses the body, electronics, video, photography, sound and installation within her works. She is the singer and trombone player of Assembly of Mazes, a music collective who create dark, electronic, middle eastern, rhythmic jazz rock. Elle is currently an MFA candidate at UCSD, and received her BFA in art photography with a minor in music at CSULB. Elle has received grants from UCIRA and Fine Arts Affiliates. She is a researcher at CRCA and the b.a.n.g. lab at UCSD. Her performances have been shown in Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, Tijuana, Bogotá, Dublin and Montreal.