Copy-Paste Hentai!

with Ekat Osipova

How do we use the bodies, voices, ideas and drawings of others as vessels for our sexual fantasies? How does erotic artwork reproduce social power dynamics, and how can it be used to subvert them?

In this workshop, we invited visitors at the Arse Elektronika to create personal 1-page Hentai using collage & drawing materials.

Visitors could follow one of three different prompts, or simply create as they liked. As they were drawing, cropping and glueing, we invited them to peruse texts we prepared, and reflect on socio-cultural issues connected to Hentai and Pornography.

We had many positive interactions and witnessed or engaged in many thoughtful discussions about sex, desire, social power and social norms. Our favourite bit was a participant who decided to de-sexualise the collage material.

We report more on our experiences with this workshop in a methods paper. Because this workshop was so well-received, we gave it a new design, added some new content, and are putting it online as a free educational resource:

If you want the InDesign files, drop me an e-mail!