NEW YORK — “The Porn Selector,” a short film directed by the queer French visual artist and filmmaker Lou Fauroux and starring adult performer Kasey Warner, premiered earlier this month at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
Screened during MoMA’s prestigious New Directors/New Films festival, the short is the first part of “The Internet Collapses,” a series of artworks by Fauroux based on the scenario of what happens when, as a result of a general depletion of resources, the internet comes to an end.
“With the web gradually coming to an end, humans — each in their own way — are trying to prepare for life after the Internet,” Fauroux’s artist statement explains. “This collapsological context runs through the entire series. In each volume, the story is woven around a protagonist who organizes and plans his or her post-Internet life, as the entropic end of the WWW looms ever larger. Each character is followed in his or her environment, singular questions and personal issues.”
In the first installment, Warner plays Kasey, a former porn star who has transitioned into being a producer.
According to the synopsis, Kasey “sustains her livelihood through her website, which offers a wide range of adult content accessible through monthly payments. Since the announcement of the end of the internet, she has been devastated but has found a solution that could help her survive in the post-internet collapse era. By scouring vast amounts of online sexually explicit images, she selects and downloads pornographic content, including images and videos. She then prints and burns them onto DVDs, tapes, engravings, and other sexual objects. When the internet finally collapses, she aims to have a stronghold on the market and sell her valuable products.”
After the MoMA screening, Warner told XBIZ that helping to create “The Porn Selector” with Fauroux was “a true delight.”
“Words can’t describe how proud and grateful I am for her,” Warner said. “Seeing sex work being presented in such a thoughtful, creative and empowered way at such a celebrated art institution makes me excited for new conversations and opportunities for the sex work community as the gap between adult and mainstream media continues to narrow.”
“The Internet Collapses” is itself part of a larger artistic project called “WhatRemains,” which Fauroux describes as “an ecosystem that takes multidisciplinary forms: installation, video, sound, sculpture, 3D animation, VR, etc.”
“WhatRemains,” an artist’s statement explains, “aims to point out the ethical issues and consequences of the omnipresence of the internet and artificial intelligences within the human experience. What power dynamics govern the Internet, and can we detect a form of religiosity in it?”
Fauroux has a background in the Los Angeles adult industry and in 2022 graduated from Paris’ National Art School. Her work has been showcased in both independent venues and group exhibitions. Fauroux also founded an experimental electronic music label, FÆRIES, in collaboration with DJ Jennifer Cardini.
