UCLA Design Media Arts | Work / Anonymity takes the Vanilla out of Sex

WorkLouis K. Levy

Anonymity takes the Vanilla out of Sex

name: Louis K. Levy
title: Anonymity takes the Vanilla out of Sex
type: BA

There is a dark, grayscale picture of various people sitting inside a small room. There are three tents in the background. One person is standing, and there are five or six people sitting down and talking to each other. Everyone is smiling.

There is a dark, grayscale picture of various people. There are eight people sitting down and talking to each other and two tents in the background. Everyone is smiling.

There is a dark, grayscale picture of various people sitting inside a small room. There are three tents in the background. There are three people sitting down and talking to each other. Some are holding cups. Everyone is smiling.

This is a photo possibly taken inside of a tent that is inside a small room. Things are grayscale and almost too dark to see, and a majority of the picture is obscured by the floor or the tent fabric. On the top right corner background there is a person t

There is a dark, grayscale picture of people sitting inside a small room. There are three tents in the background. One person is standing and seems to be talking, and two people visible sitting down. Everyone is smiling.

Someone is standing and talking to a large group of people who are sitting in a small room. The photo is dark and in grayscale. The person who is standing has their back to the camera.

This is a grayscale dark photo of a small table with various bottles of alcohol. There is Jose Cuervo, Bacardi, 42 Below, and Jack Daniel's visible.

This is a dark grayscale photo of someone holding a drink from the side. In the background, there is a tent, a person standing, and a person sitting.

This is a dark grayscale photo taken diagonally from above of someone cutting limes in a kitchen.

There is a long balloon on the floor attached to a white base. The photo is a little blurry and grayscale.

This is a blurry, grayscale photo of people inside a small room sitting and talking to each other. In the background there are two tents.

There are two tents inside a small room with a long balloon attached to a white base on the side.

This is a photo focused on a long balloon attached to a black base with people who are sitting and blurry in the background. This is inside a room. The photo is grayscale.

This is a blurry grayscale photo of someone walking in front of the camera. There is a tent inside the room visible in the background.

This is a grayscale photo of some lies that are cut in half. In the foreground are some unfocused grapes.

This is a blurry grayscale photo of a long balloon being inflated.

“Anonymity takes the Vanilla out of Sex” is a social experiment, a game and a party. I created it because of a desire I have to find connection and relate to others in a physical environment about sexual preference. My belief is that we are more sexually complicated then we make our selves out to be. That expression of this diversity is made easier when we have understanding that we are not the only ones in the room who feel this way. To help facilitate this process I constructed a comfortable environment in my home complete with "Nookie Cookies," freshly juiced cocktails ("Pink Panties") and 3 tents with electronic switches that acted as anonymous voting booths. 3 volunteers per round weighed in on their feelings about the sexual subjects, which the audience asks. If there is coconscious that 2 or 3 out of 3 people vote for a subject a pneumatic falace is inflated. Participant’s responses remain anonymous through this system and the goal of the audience is to find enough things that the volunteers have in common to inflate the fallacy to the point it explodes confetti on the audience. The experiment was absurdly successful, through the course of the party the comfort level of those involved grew and the format of the game devolved as there was less need for obscurity and anonymity. What began as solo voting inside of the tents moved to partnered voting inside the tents and ultimately the tents became unnecessary and everyone was able to vote right in front of each other and express themselves face to face. For the purpose of the exhibition I will recreate a larger version of one tent, in which documentation will be displayed regarding the event. There will be statistical data presented in the form of all the question cards, which were generated by the audience along with black and white photographs from the event, illustrating its evolution or devolution. I will also display the falace robot and allow patrons of the gallery to experience voting for themselves.