It's Not Exploitation, It's Technology
Masters students from Royal College of Art's Industrial Design Engineering have evidently created a type of skin-safe conductive ink that when paired with floor pads and software can create a giant human-powered MIDI controller.
Of course the best way to show off technology like this is with women's bodies:
Silly me, I thought those symbols on their stomachs and the lines wrapped around their limbs were necessarily to complete the circuit. I'm not sure why tapping your feet and clapping your hands requires the rest of your body to be bare.
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Well, I guess they are trying to show off the ink, and emphasise that it works well on the skin.
I actually like it from an art perspective. Technology is part of the human condition, what better way to symbolise that than to envelope the human form in an electronics diagram (an archetypal representation for technology).
And from a feminist perspective at least it's showing women immersed in technology.
I'm with you... maybe if this particular image were overtly super-sexual (the women had lingerie, or were shown embracing, or were striking a "pinup" pose or something) then I would feel icky about the use of women's bodies to promote this new technology. But after looking at the website, it actually looks quite beautiful and artistic to me -- human beings connected to machines in an intuitive and artistic way, perhaps?
But if you go to their website here it's a little more troubling. In the "images" section there's a slightly more sexualized picture of a woman, and none of men baring any skin. And in the "projects" section you can see videos dozens of girls in bikinis surrounding a man who is of course, fully clothed. A little more troubling.
If it's ink, it might come off under clothing.
Aaaaah!!!!! As a digital artist this particularly pisses me off. More tech programs prioritizing men and objectifying women. Just great!
Check out the inventors- three women and one man.
Check out the video page- first things are the man talking about their design, and about constructing a "human synthesizer of attractive women" (these are the bikini clad women).
This seriously figures.
This is amazing technology and the potentials for performance are huge. It makes me wish I were still in school right now.
I think they should have included nude men in the project as well. Otherwise, I don't really see a problem with it and look forward to seeing what other artists due with this new medium as well.