BY: JESSICA BEUKER
Australian-American art duo Pony Express have created the Ecosexual Bathhouse—an interactive performance space where visitors are encouraged to push the boundaries between sexuality and ecology. Guests can sink their arms into a composting glory hole, be showered with pollen in the pollination gallery, indulge in some of the latest eco-porn, or engage in windplay.
The term ecosexuality refers to an identity where the environment is considered the erotic partner. According to Broadly, the project draws heavily from both the queer and environmentalist movements. The artists, Loren Kronemyer and Ian Sinclair, created the project to humourously speculate how sensual interaction with the environment could help secure the future of the planet.
The term ecosexuality refers to an identity where the environment is considered the erotic partner.
Photo: Pony Express
Photo: Pony Express
Broadly explains that the bathhouse journey begins with all visitors being offered a choice of accessory or “morph.” Morphs may be certain toys, such as the squirter—a strap-on spray bottle that allows the wearer to moisten plants and humans. Each room contains a different interactive element. There is even a shapeshifting dominatrix who wanders through the exhibition, giving visitors dances based upon their chosen accessories. The final room in the bathhouse is the Divinity Room, where visitors burrow through plant life to a bed where special eyeglasses create a dance of hearts all around. “Ultimately, Pony Express envisions Ecosexual Bathhouse as a hedonistic Eden for a post-sustainable age,” writes Broadly.
All visitors are asked to seek consent from the species they engage with beforehand. Consent constitutes “thriving,” meaning that some sort of mutual benefit has to be involved. For example, humans could enter a threesome with a plant, as they would aid in the pollination process.
Photo: Pony Express
Photo: Pony Express
“That question comes from the narrow-minded idea that sex means P in V—the idea that you’ve never had sex unless you’ve had a penis in you,” Kronemyer tells Broadly. “Your brain is your biggest sex organ. A sexual experience can be multi-sensory, it can be based on different sorts of information that you can receive with your body. Humans have demonstrated that we have the capacity for a limitless, diverse spectrum of erotic potential, and maybe it’s time to use that to connect with the environment.”
The Ecosexual Bathhouse debuted at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. The project ran from May 6 to 14, but creators hope that the idea will spread further. They want exploring ecosexuality to prompt people to apply themes of consent and mutuality to their relationship with the environment. Broadly put it best: “Rather than approaching the world as a warehouse of insensate things we wish to stockpile for later use, we should consider it a partner in the longest relationship we’ll ever have.”
Photo: Pony Express