THE PILLOW BLOG

 

I'm sorry about the sex
Luhmen d'Arc Luhmen d'Arc

I'm sorry about the sex

Pamela Russmann: The myGiulia theme for August is “What a feeling.” What feeling do you associate with sex? Beate Absalon:
In English, I would say “anticipation,” which, unfortunately, is usually translated as “Vorfreude” in German. But in the English sense of this spellbound state of expectation, both can exist at the same time: joy and fear. And what I like about the word “anticipation” is that it refers to a state that hasn’t happened yet. I associate that with sex, too—this endless circling around something that somehow can’t quite be grasped.

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"I do wonder: Why do I make people up?"
Luhmen d'Arc Luhmen d'Arc

"I do wonder: Why do I make people up?"

Jade gently picks up a pink silicone cake mold shaped like half a brain. Inside is a thin white layer, which Jade carefully scrapes out and collects in a small vial. Then we turn on the microphone and ask what Jade is doing and why :) With this audio series, we’d like to introduce you to people you can learn from when it comes to the question: What do you actually do in a playspace? After all, playspaces come with plenty of challenges. How do I connect with people? What should I pack? Should I plan something in advance or just see what happens on the spot? We were lucky to have Jade…

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How exactly do you even play in so-called sex-positive spaces, and is it really just about sex, or is it actually about something else too—but what do you call that?
Beate Absalon Beate Absalon

How exactly do you even play in so-called sex-positive spaces, and is it really just about sex, or is it actually about something else too—but what do you call that?

While walking with a friend, we talk about my perception and experience of the so-called sex-positive spaces - out of her open curiosity, as she has not yet experienced these spaces first-hand. I start by describing a bit of the 'infrastructure': how it all started for me in the first place, how I first stumbled into a workshop by chance at a dance school where ropes and floggers were also used, how I then met Schwelle7 and Matís, whom I told about writing my master's thesis on Shibari and who then recruited me as an assistant for a bondage course in no time at all. Finally, the more difficult part, trying to describe what interests me about the rooms in the first place. I mention the classics that many people in the "scene" report about. How liberating it is to let people...

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Intimate Interviews, Part II
Beate Absalon Beate Absalon

Intimate Interviews, Part II

Last year, we had the pleasure of interviewing wonderful and talented people about everything that also occupies our minds in our work. To start things off, we pampered our interviewees with a bodywork session of their choice so we could get the conversation flowing with a healthy rush of energy. We’d prepared many questions—some of which came up repeatedly, while others arose spontaneously. So the conversations usually began with a free association exercise on the topic of “sex”—simply saying whatever first came to mind, without thinking. And toward the end, the focus was usually on what specific workshops on creative intimacy they would like to see. What emerged between us during these conversations and was put into words is, to me, pure gold! Here is the second transcribed interview!

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Video interview by the Goethe-Institut China with Beata on “Pornography & Society”
Beate Absalon Beate Absalon

Video interview by the Goethe-Institut China with Beata on “Pornography & Society”

What materials can help us get to the bottom of the elusive nature of sexuality? How are our bodies and their desires entangled in power dynamics—and how do we deal with that? Alone or with others? Publicly or privately? By emphasizing the beautiful or the difficult aspects? Through play or seriousness? By being sweet or angry? Do we even have to decide—and why is it always so much about deciding “This is good and this is bad!” when it comes to sexuality? For the issue of the online magazine “yì” focusing on “Pornography and Society,” Silvan Hagenbrock, online editor at the Goethe-Institut China, spoke with Beata about her work and vision.
Watch the video here.

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Intimate Interviews, Part I – The Connection Between Art and Pleasure, and a Workshop Request Show
Beate Absalon Beate Absalon

Intimate Interviews, Part I – The Connection Between Art and Pleasure, and a Workshop Request Show

Last year, we had the pleasure of interviewing wonderful and talented people about everything that also occupies us in our work. To start things off, we treated our interviewees to a bodywork session of their choice, so we could get the conversation flowing with a good rush of blood. We had prepared many questions, some of which came up repeatedly, while others arose spontaneously. So the conversations usually began with a free association on the topic of “sex”—simply saying whatever first came to mind, without thinking. And toward the end, the focus was mostly on what specific workshops on creative intimacy they would like to see. What emerged between us and was put into words is, to me, pure gold! Here is the first transcribed interview!

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