Bondage/Discipline/Dominance/submission/Sadomasochistic (BDSM) activities are not revolutionary practices. The ethics that surround BDSM, including but not limited to enthusiastic consent, pleasure-oriented sex, negotiation of boundaries, and consensual power exchange can appear revolutionary within a culture that demonizes sexual pleasure. play_ presents BDSM in a non-sensationalized manner so that participants can focus on the ideas behind consensual kink without framing it in a “deviant” context. This multimedia installation envelops participants in kink and kink culture, allowing them to discover their own relationship to the materials presented.

Components:
• A soundscape built from a field recording of a 45 minute BDSM scene involving one consenting participant striking another consenting participant with various implements
• A rainbow of rope
• A flavored lube bar
• Spreadsheets

Rebecca Drapkin is an auditory experience designer and technologist in the in Experimental Sound Practices MFA program at the California Institute of the Arts with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Dartmouth College. As a composer and sound designer for interactive and immersive media, she focuses on works for video games, animation, installations, and interactive performance. Her creations rely heavily on sample manipulation, often making the source material entirely unrecognizable or decontextualized.