~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even

Originally written in 1995 during Joseph Nechvatal's artist-in-residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, '~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even' is a semi-autobiographical farce that, in parts, captures the birth of the internet, New York City cultural life in the late 1970s and 1980s, and the sex life of an American painter in Paris in 1995. Incorporating a broad range of Western (pop) culture references—from art to music to literature—Nechvatal places us in the midst of an esoteric cacophony of myth and colour and sound and sensuality as the buzz of a nascent internet sounds the opening of doors and minds. "~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even is a critique, but also an appraisal; written in the form of poetic crescendos and meta-metaphors of mega-virtual transparent/expressive form. It stretches the reader into the domain of the highly artistic expression of digital possibilities, which is the author’s trademark. The story of ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even explores both the virtues and pitfalls of a new Young Werther, dosing through the lures of city lights. In it Nechvatal reacquires the panoptical vision of Jean Baudrillard, who has shown us a display of a mordantly witty obsession with language that tests the limits of form and stretches the bounds of meaning towards negation." ~ Nina Zivancevic “ Beyond being a historical art piece capturing a time when the Internet had psychic and communitas powers, echoing modernism, futurism, and surrealism’s fascination with modern noises and machines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even should resurface today in the AI age, which it envisions so presciently. In ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~venus©~Ñ~vibrator, even, there seems to be a second-order cybernetic feedback loop, in which there are no users and no used ones, only co-participation. In this sense, it does not matter whether it is sex, art, or both—the essence lies in the co-creative process. This also echoes Ascott’s famous question, which remains relevant today in discussions about AI: Is there love in the telematic (AI) embrace? Maybe the end of the relationship with venus© also marks the end of an era—just before the emergence of YouTube, Facebook, and all that followed. There is a lot to absorb in this venusian text, and the pleasure is in its cyber(i)mmersion and the deep mind-body virtuality of its pre-emoji symbolism, graphics, AI-infused algorithms, and in its shades of pink (not grey).” ~ Dr. Lila Moore