This is a project currently in progress, generously supported by research and creation grants to WhiteFeather from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec. This project received an Ars Electronica S+T+ARTS Prize 2024 jury nomination.

 

 

 

Artists: WhiteFeather Hunter, Jiabao Li (with initial contributions by Lera Neimackl)
 

We investigate the potential of lab-grown clitorises created by 3D bio-printing stem cells derived from menstrual fluid. Our approach challenges male-dominated narratives in tech spaces, advocating for a feminist, non-binary methodology focused on pleasure and eroticism beyond reproductive function. The project is conveyed through video performances, scientific experiments, and digital art, fostering a multifaceted discourse on posthuman pleasure, ethics of sexuality, and the deconstruction of gender norms. We scrutinise the ethical complexities of bio-printed organs capable of neural responses, questioning notions of consent and sentience in bioengineering. The use of social platforms like OnlyFans for disseminating our work strategically disrupts traditional digital consumption patterns. Through this, we address biocapitalism and control of narratives around sex and pleasure, questioning normative uses of technology in spaces that objectify bodies. Our project calls for a reevaluation of biotechnological advance in its cultural, ethical, and societal impacts, challenging existing paradigms and fostering inclusive scientific exploration.

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WhiteFeather's laboratory research contributing to the project has been conducted at several university facilities, including the Insitute of Molecular Medicine, uLisboa, through partnership with Cultivamos Cultura; The University of Western Australia with support from SymbioticA and the Central Nervous System Repair Lab (Stuart Hodgetts, Guy Ben-Ary), and another (legally stipulated as anonymous) Canadian hospital research centre.

Videographer (for parts of Sentient Clit): Teresa May Nichta, edited by Jiabao Li

See also more information and exhibition images on Jiabao Li's website at https://www.jiabaoli.org/sentient-clit