Ecosex & Art in Ecosexual Symposium SF

This weekend is the 2nd Ecosexual Symposium, the love child of LoveArtLab‘s wedding wives Elizabeth Stephens, a UCSC art professor and environmental activist and Annie Sprinkle, Ph.D. a former feminist porn-star, and pioneering ecosexologist.

Last year I attended the 1st Ecosexual Symposium held in Los Angeles, presenting on Green Porn with director Carlos Batts and his muse (and my doll) April Flores. We showed a clip from the waterfall scene in Dangerous Curves featuring April, Syd Blakovich, and myself. The scene was also presented for this year’s symposium events at an ecosexual queer porn screening. It was a pleasure to watch it again in a garden Surrounds Landscape Architecture & Construction at night with a bunch of queers, beers, and blankets. Kitty Stryker was there and blogged about it on PurrVersatility. By the way, you can watch the Dangerous Curves trailer, and buy it at GoodVibes.com or order a custom signed copy through emailing me at jiz @ jizlee . com.

This year I’m also moderating the “Ecosex & Art” Panel, which will be held at the Center for Sex & Culture 2:30-4pm today.

What defines ecosexual art, or ecorotic art? Green Porn? The Urban Dictionary defines “Ecosexual” as: A term describing a person, in a dating sense, who is social and environmentally conscious. Similar to metrosexual, but for someone who wears and buys organic items and drives a hybrid car.
ie: I would love to date an ecosexual person so we can go to the farmers market together.

In our fast food culture, we consume fast sex. If there’s a slow foods movement, what would a slow sex movement look like? As Annie says, “We aim to make the environmental movement more fun, sexy, and diverse.” Bringing art into the equation is the key and Ecosexual is where art meets theory, meets practice, meets activism. Keith Bowers writes in the SF Weekly, Ecosex “involves using sex and sexuality to raise awareness about environmental and sustainability issues. More than “doing it green,” they say, it’s a way to make the movement itself more sexy and fun.” I see the ecosexual movement as a beautiful and highly creative way to bring awareness to the joys of sexual pleasure and human life. Though you may have found this blog through porn, I also have a background in art and performance, and am from Hawai`i where the connection to the land (`Aina) was a large part of my upbringing. So I’m thrilled to participate in the symposium and introduce Ecosex & Art’s panelists Tessa Wills, Penny Slinger, Tania Hammidi, and Dylan Bolles & Sasha Hom.

Tessa Wills: Anal Ecology; A Dedication to the Earth
Penny Slinger: The Dakinis as EcoSexual Ambassadors
Tania Hammidi Ph.D.: Olive Tree Hug
Dylan Bolles & Sasha Hom: The Myth of Ten Thousand Things

Here are their bios, as posted on sexecology.org:

Artists:

Tessa Wills is a choreographer and a Live Artist. Her current concerns in practice are wounds, punctures, liminality and the movement organizing principles of birds. She is honoured to continue her working relationship with Stephens and Sprinkle by restaging this collaboration with Harold Burns as a dedication to the Earth. Burns is a Bay Area performer, activist and educator, and member of the offcentre (theoffcenter.org). This duet is was origionally inspired by Chaignord and Bengolea’s performance “Paqurette”. Costumes by Honey McMoney (honeymcmoney.com). Equipment and education from Eve Minax (eveminax.com) Madame Pele (madamegoddess.com) and Kirk Read (kirkread.com). Burns and Wills next perform for the festival ‘This is What I Want” in June, and premier a new full length piece at Counterpulse on August 12th and 13th. tessawills.com Tessa is supporting the feild of the providers ally; a resource for professionals. lillyally.com

Wills and Burns will present “Anal Ecology; A Dedication to the Earth” on the EcoSex Art Panel.

 

Penny Slinger is an artist, writer and filmmaker who has not only championed the liberation of sexuality and the feminine, but actively forged new paths. Her art and techniques have been on the cutting edge of new realities since she emerged onto the London art scene at the end of the 1960s. Using herself as her own muse, she stripped away the layers of the feminine psyche as ‘the ultimate expose’ in photocollages and sculptures featuring life casts. Her artwork has been widely exhibited and a number of books and videos of her work have been published. She co-authored and illustrated ‘Sexual Secrets, The Alchemy of Ecstasy’ (1979), a seminal work bringing Tantra to a wider audience. Her current work, the 64 Dakini Oracle, has been many years in the making. The images are highly detailed digital collages, which Penny recognizes as a new medium for fine art. The oracle comprises 64 Divine Feminine archetypes in the form of a Goddess Temple for our time. pennyslinger.com and 64dakinioracle.org

Penny Slinger will present “The Dakinis as EcoSexual Ambassadors”on the EcoSex Art Panel.

 

Tania Hammidi is a conceptual artist, educator, and freelance writer. She teaches design and queer theory at California College of Art and the University of California, Davis. She holds a Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies, curates LGBTQ fashion events, and likes trees … a lot. More info: taniahammidi.com (Photo by Blanca Muñoz.)

Hammidi will present on the EcoSex and Art Panel. Hammidi’s talk is entitled “Olive Tree Hug”

 

Myth of Ten Thousand Things is a family project. In poetic song-like
structures Sasha Hom speaks of all the impossible places we make our
homes, while Dylan Bolles plays various instruments, sometimes
singing. We work in the mess and see what happens. Dylan Bolles makes performances with people and environments, many of
which involve the design and construction of new musical instruments
 and the cultivation of co-creative relationships through listening
 practice. Sasha Hom writes all kinds of things, but most of her time is spent chasing after her daughters. Sometimes she writes about this too. To check out more of her work and see her publications: SashaHom.com

Bolles and Hom will present on the EcoSex Art Panel. Their presentation is entitled ” The Myth of Ten Thousand Things.”

Moderator:

Jiz Lee is genderqueer pornstar known for an androgynous gender-bending appearance, copious female ejaculation, champion fisting, cock slinging, and light-hearted attitude about sex. The Feminist Porn Award-winning performer works with celebrated female filmmakers and advocates ethical porn as an author and speaker. With one foot in the Bay Area arts scene, Jiz holds a BA in Dance and has a background in arts management and performance as one-half of the art duo Twincest (RIP). At last year’s Ecosex Symposium, Jiz presented “Dangerous Curves” by Carlos Batts and April Flores, where the road to beautiful, hard to reach places was metaphorically portrayed through hardcore sex in luscious natural environments. This year Jiz is honored to moderate the Ecosex & Art Panel. (Photo: Tristan Crane/Karma Pervs)

Please come if you can, and if you’re not able, do check out the websites of these artists and other participants of the Ecosexual Symposium II.

Also, I would be remiss to not include in this post one of my favorite ecosexual art happenings on the internet, Isabella Rossellini’s “Green Porno” on the Sundance Channel!