Forehead Vulva Channeling Research

Forehead Vulva Channeling Research is an ongoing speculative transhumanist research that combines transmedia storytelling performances, augmented reality, and immersive installations. The research focuses on developing advanced studies on the human body’s potential to reach lifelong emotional well-being via a re-calibration of pleasure-centers by channeling virtual organs through the use of specialized technologies. The project molds new hybrid identities that are in a constant state of flux, fearlessly challenging and disrupting established notions of bodily performance. Central to its exploration is the concept of self-identification, viewed as an everlasting process of transmutation, where individual habits and beliefs are continuously constructed and disrupted as we navigate our place in society.

The project took its initial form through a series of Augmented Reality Face Filters, sparking online engagement and participation. The release of the first AR Forehead Vulva Channeller ignited a collective online performance, garnering over 250,000 impressions and 10,000 captures within a single day. This virtual experience builds upon that success, inviting visitors to enter the Forehead Vulva Channeling Research Hub and immerse themselves in a peculiar fusion of a sci-fi meditation room and a specialised research center.

The Forehead Vulva Channeling Research, characterized by its participatory nature, transcends a singular story. It encompasses the collective tales of all who have channeled its essence, whether within the physical exhibition or via digital platforms. By actively involving participants, both in-person and online, a diverse collection of stories emerges, interwoven with personal insights and perspectives and it is exactly this gathering of narratives that embodies the soul of the project, which makes us reflect on the power of shared experiences and the profound impact of collective storytelling and myths.

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Photos: S()fia Braga, Forehead Vulva Channeling Research, Galeria 17, Pristina, 2023. Photo Majilinda Hoxha. Supported by Ars Electronica Export and Shtatëmbëdhjetë as well as supported by Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF) program ‘EJA Kosovo’, co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Sweden, and Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Italian Embassy Kosovo, Austrian Embassy, and Raiffeisen Bank.