Chris M
The worlds of polyamorous dating and video art don’t often cross, but that’s exactly what a new mini project from dating app Feeld does.
The UK site, previously known as 3nder, specialises in social discovery for people who either consider themselves to have a kink or a predilection towards swinging or group sex.
For the new project, called ‘For Play’, you can experiment with anonymous flirting, interacting and socialising – as long as you don’t mind being an inkblot.
When you land on the site, you have to give access to your camera, but don’t worry, your identity is reduced to a black amorphous blob which is supposed to represent you and obscure you at the same time.
You’ll be put in a room with up to three other blobs. The rest is up to you – play hard to get, or dive in and merge your blob with other blobs – they could be anyone, of any sex, anywhere.
It’s almost erotic in a kind of finger-painting way.
The project is a joint venture with Studio Moniker, a Dutch art studio which explains itself thusly:
“With our projects, we explore the social effects of technology – how we use technology and how it influences our daily lives.”
There’s little doubt that it’s incredibly engaging as a stress reliever. Watching the colors swirl around the screen is pretty hypnotic. From a sexual point of view, however, it might be a bit of a stretch for some to feel sexy when you’re made of amorphous pixels.
If you still have nagging doubts about the camera aspect, don’t worry, so did we. But Feeld assures us:
“The microsite uses camera feed which is completely distorted on both ends of the server upload, meaning that the original video feed is not saved anywhere. We request camera access of each visitor and explain its necessity in an additional screen. What happens then is that For Play assigns your avatar to a digital room where you can interact with up to three other live participants. All encounters are entirely random and organic.”
Ultimately, this is a gimmick – a giant shop window for Feeld – but it also represents an open-minded exploration of human interaction, intimacy and anonymous encounters.
At least, that’s the idea.
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