I thought about creating some long, rambling and pensive post about this, but then I didn't. What's here is too awesome. It speaks for itself. That said, Laurel Nakadate is a New York City-based video artist. VBS features a two-part interview with the artist talking about her work. It includes one series in which she makes awesome videos with strange men and another in which she goes to love hotels and has sex with an invisible man. There's dog humping and "shadow fucking." Online, Laurel lives here, and you can read a Believer interview with her here.
I feel like the men who end up in my videos, their biggest crime is being lonely. They’re not violent, they’re not scary people, they’re just men who keep to themselves and have a hard time being social. I’m always out there by myself, I go into stranger’s houses. I did a project where I went and walked around a truck-stop parking lot and videotaped myself dancing with men in the cabs of their semis. I definitely am taking risks, but I think something really great can come out of putting yourself in an awkward situation. A lot of people think that the work is about mocking or making fun of things, but a lot of it is about discomfort and making myself as uncomfortable as the men feel, or putting myself in a situation where I’m revealing my loneliness as much as they’re revealing theirs.
