PORNCEPTUAL
PORNCEPTUAL IS GETTING READY FOR COMEBACK – AND IT WILL BE MORE INTENSE AND SWEATIER THAN EVER. WE HAD A CHAT WITH ORGANIZERS RAQUEL FEDATO AND CHRIS PHILLIPS.
First of all, as a club and event organizer how’s life been so far this year?
R: Life has been certainly different. We are usually quite busy with events and festivals, so it is an unusual circumstance. Besides that, we will be hosting a few smaller Pornceptual events in Berlin.
Pornceptual is famous for its intimacy, will it be possible to arrange parties with the 1,5 meter distance?
R: It will not be possible to host club nights following social distancing regulations. But Pornceptual goes beyond dancing, so we see this as a challenge to explore other event formats such as performance nights, movie screenings and art installations.
C: Nothing is impossible, you can always find a creative way to deal with limitations. I also believe that intimacy goes beyond skin contact and it’s more about how people are able to connect, so this can happen even if at a distance. But we are not planning to host any offline club nights with those restrictions, we prefer to wait until we are sure that we won’t put any of our guests at risk.
Earlier in 2020, Pornceptual together with Klub Verboten organized a massive online party to celebrate sexual expression, fetishism and freedom, will there be more of these parties while you’re not allowed to do the physical ones?
R: We have had two online events that went very well as this was a way to connect with our international audience. It was a great experience, but from now on we will focus on coming up with concepts for events in real life.
Let’s go back in time. Where did the idea to start Pornceptual come from?
C: After having repressed my sexuality for so many years, being raised in an ultra-conservative family, the idea came from my own personal need for sexual liberation. It was a way of expressing myself and feeling free.
Today, Pornceptual is a concept that includes parties, fetishes, clothes in your webshop, a magazine, artsy and erotic porn pictures and more. Tell us about what you’ve become today.
R: Pornceptual is a participatory multi-disciplinary project that questions how sexuality is represented in pornography. Throughout the years, we expanded into different areas – events, online shop, festivals, art – but above all, Pornceptual became a community and platform for people to express their sexuality creatively.
We are familiar with the Berlin parties, but Pornceptual travels around the world. How does the mood differ in different cities?
C: Traveling with Pornceptual is both about exporting our artistic concept of body/sex-positivity and collaborating with different international queer scenes. So the mood is always different because it’s also a dialogue. Unfortunately, we do have to face some limitations in other cities because some countries have a lot of regulations when it comes to hosting the kind of event that we do.
R: Bringing Pornceptual to different cities is challenging, but an important part of the political aspect of our project. We want
NOBODY HAS TO GO ON A FULL FETISH LOOK OR TOTALLY NAKED THE FIRST TIME, UNLESS THEY WANT TO
to spread our concept to cities that are not so open-minded. Working around the legal and sometimes even cultural limitations of each city is difficult, but we have had incredible experiences around the world. The mood is certainly different as there is no place like Berlin, but the crowd in most of the cities we have been to has been very welcoming.
What would you say is unique about the parties in Berlin? C: Berlin has a very authentic party scene. It’s unique because it allows people to be themselves.
R: Berlin’s subversive counter-culture and the community around Pornceptual. The freedom we have in the city majorly reflects on the mood of the party.
Pornceptual’s got a reputation of being a very open minded- and dirty party, how dirty does it get?
R: Come and see ;) no spoilers!
Wanna share some of your own best experiences from the club nights?
R: Recently, my best experience at one of our club nights was in Kiev at ∄. We had a collaboration with them in the beginning of March before all events got cancelled because of the pandemic. Not only the club is incredible, but the crowd was so willing to participate in the concept we proposed that night. From the
DJs we had – Alinka, Norman Nodge, Jamaica Suk & The Lady Machine – to the performances and the guests, everything in this event felt special.
C: It’s always hard to pick one specific experience. But I do agree that Raquel and I think that the Kiev event was special because the community we met there was incredibly welcoming and it was inspiring to see a young scene so committed to creating a safe space for queer people in a place where homophobia is still a huge issue.
Regarding dress code. What is your advice to someone who’s about to explore Pornceptual for the first time?
How do you find what you are?
C: We want people to make an effort and that means not coming with casual clothes to the events. They should come to participate, not only to observe others. But it’s about feeling comfortable and exploring options in a creative way. Nobody has to go on a full fetish look or totally naked the first time, unless they want to. Wearing a latex suit, for example, can feel amazing for some people, but very uncomfortable for others. We always publish a mood-board to inspire people, so my advice would be to check it and try to improvise with something that they already like. And to then slowly feel more comfortable with their own bodies/nudity while exploring their own fetishes.
THE FREEDOM WE HAVE IN THE CITY MAJORLY REFLECTS ON THE MOOD OF THE PARTY
Looking back through history, society hasn’t always been as open as it is these days. What do you think about the future, and how can the future generations become more open about expressing our sexuality, fetishes and freedom?
C: Sexual liberation is human progress and for sure we now benefit from social movements that have facilitated women emancipation, more LGBTQ+ rights and more awareness towards some minories. But the popularisation of far-right movements have also proved that this fight is far from over because society can go back to being as closed-minded as before. So it’s important for us to stay political about it in order to have a proper impact on people’s view.
R: Honestly, I consider pornography and sexuality more of a taboo now than I believe it has been previously. Future generations will only become more open towards sexuality by developing and questioning societal rules and notions that have been previously imposed on us.
What can we expect from Pornceptual when this pandemic is over?
R: This time has been very valuable for us to reconsider our practices and come up with new ways of engaging with our community. It is tricky to say what the future holds, but when the pandemic is over we hope to host even better events applying new realizations we had during this time.
C: We had so many plans and so many expectations for this year and the pandemic crisis showed us that everything can change in a very short period of time. It was personally really hard for me to deal with everything getting cancelled at once, so I’m still a bit anxious about making plans. But I also think that this time has made us appreciate the things we once had. So I hope that the post-corona events will be even more intense and sweatier than ever.
When you’re not hosting your own parties, where do you find yourself on a Saturday night/ Sunday morning in Berlin?
C: Normally meeting people or supporting other queer events that I like. I also love hosting brunches on Sunday and preparing unusual dishes for my friends.
R: This happens rarely. The few weekends that I am at home, I am either catching up with friends or getting stoned and watching Disney movies. ●