“Charkowczanka” is an interference with a ready made self-massager. Manufactured in Russia in the 1990s, the original object consists of a simple casing, an electric engine and changeable parts for massage. The artist has replaced these parts so that one might use bullet shells, nails, human teeth or a safety razor for ‘massage’. The object is fully operational and when plugged in, the elements located on the engine start to vibrate intensely.
“This is an artwork I started working on right before I became a sex worker. It constituted a way of expressing my frustration over a lack of acceptance for ‘unusual’ fetishes in a creative way. Since then I’ve been incorporating this and other ‘pleasure objects’ often made by myself, into my sex life and my sex work. The use of an object creates both a closeness and a distance. When holding an object that only I know how to operate, I’m feeling empowered, in control, I’m building a bond. But having an object between me and a client also builds a distance necessary for me to feel safe and to know where the game starts and ends. It’s almost as if preventing myself from engaging my whole body decreases the emotional labour. Saying that, I also wish to offer a unique sexual experience, and the use of a self-made, one-of-a-kind object helps satisfy that desire. The bedroom turns into my laboratory, and I am the ‘mad scientist’.”
The work was inspired by a Jan Švankmajer film ‘Conspirators of Pleasure’ and Sigmund Freud’s closely related theory of psycho-sexuality. Freud said that each of us is subject to a permanent conflict between the pleasure principle – both social and nonconformist, which makes us adopt pleasure and freedom as the sole objectives of our actions, in turn ignoring social norms, and the reality principle – a moralizing, confining and equalising form of repression imposed by society, upbringing and educational institutions. He expands that a sound mental development calls for an equilibrium between these two principles. ‘Innocuous’ perversion hidden in our dreams is confronted by the oppressive perversion of civilisation that manifests itself in politics, wars, peace conferences, ethnic cleansing, and both man-made and natural disasters. Human life at the present level of civilisation looks increasingly like a life in ‘nonconformist sects’, arising in response to the process of uniformisation of society through advertising and consumerism. From the point of view of the masses and their manipulators, each attempt at a free and imaginary act of pleasure is a manifestation of perversion. The “Charkowczanka” object is, in a way, an artistic attempt to answer the problem of the irregularity of human needs and fantasies in the contemporary world. The work refers moreover to the encounter of two contexts: design and art, and mass-produced sets and a unique object.
– Nat Portnoy
„Charkowczanka“ ist ein Kurzschluss mit einem handelsüblichen Massagegerät. Das ursprüngliche Gerät wurde in den 1990er Jahren in Russland hergestellt und verfügt über eine Hülle, einen elektrischen Antrieb und verschiedene Massageaufsätze. Die Künstlerin tauschte die Einzelteile durch Patronenhülsen, Fingernägeln, menschlichen Zähnen und Rasierklinge aus, sodass man sich nun bequem damit massieren kann. Das Gerät ist voll funktionstüchtig und versetzt die Einzelteile beim Einschalten in intensives Vibrieren.
„Ich habe mit diesem Werk angefangen kurz bevor ich Sexarbeiterin wurde. Es verlieh meinem Frust, dass ‚ungewöhnliche’ Fetische so wenig akzeptiert sind, einen kreativen Ausdruck. Dieses und andere von mir hergestellte ‚Lustobjekte‘ verwende ich seitdem gerne in meinem privaten wie beruflichen Sexleben. Das Benutzen von Gegenständen schafft gleichermaßen Nähe wie Distanz. Wenn ich ein Gerät in der Hand halte, von dem nur ich weiß wie es zu bedienen ist, fühle ich mich empowered, dann habe ich die Kontrolle und kann eine Beziehung zu meinem Gegenüber aufbauen. Ein Objekt zwischen mir und dem Kunden zu haben schafft die nötige Distanz, damit ich mich sicher fühle und klar weiß, wo das Spiel beginnt und wo es endet. Es ist fast so, als würde der Grad, in dem es mich davon abhält, meinen ganzen Körper einzusetzen, den emotionalen Aufwand in der Arbeit verringern. Abgesehen davon möchte ich meinen Kunden einzigartige sexuelle Erfahrungen verschaffen und der Einsatz von handgemachten Gerätschaften hilf mir dabei. Das Schlafzimmer verwandelt sich in ein Labor, in dem ich die ‚verrückte Wissenschaftlerin‘ bin.“
Die Arbeit ist inspiriert von Jan Švankmajers Film „Verschwörer der Lust“ und der eng damit verknüpften Theorie der Psycho-Sexualität von Sigmund Freud. Freud sagt, dass jede*r von uns in einem ständigen Konflikt zwischen Lust- und Realitätsprinzip steht. Das Lustprinzip ist zugleich sozial und nicht-konform und bringt uns dazu, Lustgewinn und Freiheit als einziges Handlungsziel zu sehen und soziale Normen im Gegenzug zu ignorieren. Das Realitätsprinzip dagegen ist die moralisierende, begrenzende und ausgleichende Form der Selbstunterdrückung, die uns die Gesellschaft durch unsere Erziehung und ihre Institutionen auferlegt. Er führt weiter aus, dass eine gesunde geistige Entwicklung auf einem ständigen Ausgleich zwischen beiden Prinzipien gründet. ‚Harmlose‘ Perversionen, die sich in unseren Träumen verbergen, stehen unterdrückenden Perversionen der Zivilisation gegenüber, welche sich in Politik, Kriegen, Friedenskonferenzen, ethnischen Säuberungen, in menschlichen wie in Naturkatastrophen manifestieren.
– Nat Portnoy
“Charkowczanka” is an interference with a ready made self-massager. Manufactured in Russia in the 1990s, the original object consists of a simple casing, an electric engine and changeable parts for massage. The artist has replaced these parts so that one might use bullet shells, nails, human teeth or a safety razor for ‘massage’. The object is fully operational and when plugged in, the elements located on the engine start to vibrate intensely.
“This is an artwork I started working on right before I became a sex worker. It constituted a way of expressing my frustration over a lack of acceptance for ‘unusual’ fetishes in a creative way. Since then I’ve been incorporating this and other ‘pleasure objects’ often made by myself, into my sex life and my sex work. The use of an object creates both a closeness and a distance. When holding an object that only I know how to operate, I’m feeling empowered, in control, I’m building a bond. But having an object between me and a client also builds a distance necessary for me to feel safe and to know where the game starts and ends. It’s almost as if preventing myself from engaging my whole body decreases the emotional labour. Saying that, I also wish to offer a unique sexual experience, and the use of a self-made, one-of-a-kind object helps satisfy that desire. The bedroom turns into my laboratory, and I am the ‘mad scientist’.”
The work was inspired by a Jan Švankmajer film ‘Conspirators of Pleasure’ and Sigmund Freud’s closely related theory of psycho-sexuality. Freud said that each of us is subject to a permanent conflict between the pleasure principle – both social and nonconformist, which makes us adopt pleasure and freedom as the sole objectives of our actions, in turn ignoring social norms, and the reality principle – a moralizing, confining and equalising form of repression imposed by society, upbringing and educational institutions. He expands that a sound mental development calls for an equilibrium between these two principles. ‘Innocuous’ perversion hidden in our dreams is confronted by the oppressive perversion of civilisation that manifests itself in politics, wars, peace conferences, ethnic cleansing, and both man-made and natural disasters. Human life at the present level of civilisation looks increasingly like a life in ‘nonconformist sects’, arising in response to the process of uniformisation of society through advertising and consumerism. From the point of view of the masses and their manipulators, each attempt at a free and imaginary act of pleasure is a manifestation of perversion. The “Charkowczanka” object is, in a way, an artistic attempt to answer the problem of the irregularity of human needs and fantasies in the contemporary world. The work refers moreover to the encounter of two contexts: design and art, and mass-produced sets and a unique object.
– Nat Portnoy
Multidisciplinary artist, graphic designer, photographer, erotic model and adult performer, born in Poland in 1987. Working with mediums such as video, installation, object, photography and painting. Nats projects are mainly based on theories of socio-cultural construction. She is interested in examining the cognitive processes of pleasure, exploring its connotations with fetish, self-representation, perversions, identity, ritual and the complexity of language used to determine desire.
Multidisciplinary artist, graphic designer, photographer, erotic model and adult performer, born in Poland in 1987. Working with mediums such as video, installation, object, photography and painting. Nats projects are mainly based on theories of socio-cultural construction. She is interested in examining the cognitive processes of pleasure, exploring its connotations with fetish, self-representation, perversions, identity, ritual and the complexity of language used to determine desire.
Multidisciplinary artist, graphic designer, photographer, erotic model and adult performer, born in Poland in 1987. Working with mediums such as video, installation, object, photography and painting. Nats projects are mainly based on theories of socio-cultural construction. She is interested in examining the cognitive processes of pleasure, exploring its connotations with fetish, self-representation, perversions, identity, ritual and the complexity of language used to determine desire.
