Touch: The Fantasy exhibition is an immersive experience of sexual fantasy

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

“Go in and listen to their sex sounds. Please go and make yourself at home on that couch as you lie down on your back, watch the video and enjoy,” one of the exhibition aids encouraged me. I hesitated as you can imagine. And it is not because I was not curious enough. It is just that can you imagine listening to a couple having sex, and watching some graphics on the screen that interpret what is happening between those couples. It does not feel okay to me as it feel like an intrusion into a private matter between two peoples who are in an intimate embrace as they have sex, a very private matter indeed.

But anyway, I summoned all the courage and did as I was told. I grabbed an ear phone on the wall, put them on and lied on my back on the elevated couch and listened as I made myself feel at home. I must say, I felt a sense of guilty, but at the same time, I did not want to leave as the more I listened, the more curious I became and I started also to imagine my own fantasy. But then as I was feeling at home, the same exhibition aid barged into the room where I was and dragged me out of the room so to speak, to go and listen to Kim Windvogel’s speech as she opened the exhibition. I almost cursed the exhibition aid, but she had to do her job, I guess.

If you believe this is just my fantasy which has no bearing to reality, you are wrong. I found myself “accidentally” at an opening of a new exhibition at TMRW Gallery at Art Mille in Rosebank, Johannesburg, on Saturday, October 8, 2021.

This exhibition is a n exploration of sexual fantasy by couples who recorded themselves as they had sex and passed on the recordings to artists and writers Kim Windvogel and Tiffany Mugo, the creators of Touch: The Fantasy exhibition. The two curated the sex tapes and put them together into an exhibition that is partly audio, partly video graphics, partly movie and partly a book.

The project started off with the publication of a book in 2020 called Touch: The Fantasy, co-written by Kim and Tiffany. This was followed by the publication of a sex guide of the same name, and finally this exhibition.

“What happened is that a few years ago, my partner then and I, as students, has dreams to transform the agricultural sector on the continent as we aimed at taking back the land from those that had taken it undeservedly and effect an agricultural revolution on Africa.

“In one of the strategy meetings, I recorded the proceedings as the discussions were quite intense. After that discussion my then partner and I went home where we ended up having sex. But then I discovered thereafter that all along my phone had been in a recording mode since the meeting ended, and it had also recorded our sex session. Guess what, my boyfriend and I did what couples do, which is to rewind and play the sex scene where we heard ourselves for the first time having sex. Listening to that sex scene was a real turn on for both of us as we ended up having another sex session. The experience was hilarious. And so in short that is the start of this project,” Kim said amid Laughter at the opening of the exhibition.

And as you can imagine, there was a hive of activity in the gallery as guests took their places and turns to listen to sex scenes in the different listening room s created in the gallery.

Soon international student Lusanda Ntintili asked to try the sex bondage equipment that is part of this exhibition, and Kim obliged and tied her up as a partner would do to a willing sex partner as she patiently explained to her how such a sex scene is governed by strict rules of safety precautions and voluntary spirit.

“If the partner who is bound and is being whipped says stop, the other partner must stop immediately, and that is how it works,” Kim explained to Ntintili as she tied her up, ready for action. Well, she did not have her partner with her and we therefore never saw this sex scene unfold to its conclusion. Some of us were disappointed that Ntintili did not come with her partner to sex role play. But we understood at the end.

And here is the thing about this exhibition. Touch: The Fantasy showcases sex as a creative exploration of pleasure, sensual partnered endeavours and the juicy fantasies that thread them all together. For most, sex is a pleasurable thing. It can connect us emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Sex can help us realise things about ourselves, our partners, and the ways in which we express ourselves when engaging with it. 

Creator Kim Windvogel wanted to create different worlds where the audience can immerse themselves in imagined spaces where strangers are having sex. Touch: The Fantasy has three rooms, each depicting a scene referencing a different type of moment in a relationship, accompanied by audio of a couple being intimate. Each room enables the viewer to use their imagination, to imagine themselves in that room, with those partners and think about what they would do if they were watching the couple make love, fuck and be intimate. Touch: The Fantasy encourages you to think about your own pleasure and begs the question: What is your fantasy?  

Supported by The Heinrich Boëll Foundation there are other artistic segments as well to this exhibition and there are several actors involved in the different  aspects of the exhibitions as we state below;

Movie: Voyeur Eyes Only: Welcome to sin(ner) city 

Visuals: Khanya Kemami

Starring: Loren Loubser & partner

“The room centres around using voyeurism and subverting the gaze on my queer body to be more about the needs of the viewer. Voyeur Eyes Only is a regaining of power and representation of positive sexual play between queer bodies; the viewer is an active participant; they are encouraged to play along and enjoy. Voyeur Eyes Only is where the private becomes public.”

Audio artist of Voyeur Eyes Only bio

Loren is a Queer Indigenous Person Of Colour, actor (No Hiding Here, High Fantasy – Showmax), filmmaker (REMOVED at Durban International Film Festival), documentarian & Podcast Host of Open Wide, Say Ah! Follow them on Instagram @lekkerlollas

Virtual Artist of Voyeur Eyes Only bio

Khanya Kemami aka WacomBoy, formerly knowns as Khanya, The Designer is a South African born and based Black Queer Man of the Trans experience who specialises in Digital Art, Illustration and Tattoos. Khanya’s work aims to celebrate varying queer identities and subject matters that are often said to leave a “foul taste” in people’s mouths. Khanya works in vivid nudity while incorporating pop art, anime, cartoonist comic elements and body modification celebrations. Khanya’s stuff is Black AF, Gay AF, Trans AF, Vulnerable and Naked AF and Unapologetic AF. Follow them on Instagram @wacom_boy

Movie: Custom Request: It’s the Wettest Taboo

Visuals: Khanya Kemami

Starring: Boni Mnisi & Wes Leal

“Our room, as controversial and taboo as it may seem, is a subtle celebration of the kinks often borne from trauma. Present conversations surrounding sex positivity and liberation neglect to address those of us who have had to re-orient our sexual identities from a place of abuse and fetishisation. Although messy, our stories of reclaiming the uncomfortable and the taboo are just as valid as the rainbow coloured ones.” 

Audio artists of Custom Request bios

Boni Mnisi (b. 1997, Johannesburg) is a Cape Town-based filmmaker, conceptual artist, writer and cultural curator working within a Womanist framework. Follow them on Instagram @sensitive_black_dyke

Wes Leal (b. 1998, Johannesburg) is a gender fucked visual artist. Working across a range of mediums their work  explores themes of masculinity and sex in relation to  their own experience. Follow them on Instagram @mr_leal__

Virtual Reality Artist of Custom Request Bio

Khanya Kemami aka WacomBoy, formerly knowns as Khanya, The Designer is a South African born and based Black Queer Man of the Trans experience who specialises in Digital Art, Illustration and Tattoos. Khanya’s work aims to celebrate varying queer identities and subject matters that are often said to leave a “foul taste” in people’s mouths. Khanya works in vivid nudity while incorporating pop art, anime, cartoonist comic elements and body modification celebrations. Khanya’s stuff is Black AF, Gay AF, Trans AF, Vulnerable and Naked AF and Unapologetic AF. Follow them on Instagram @wacom_boy

Movie: Marital Bliss: Fuck me through the phone

Visuals: Good Good Boy

Starring Kim Windvogel & partner

This room features a couple in a long-distance relationship having virtual sex during the COVID-19 pandemic. The phone and laptop disconnect several times and to their partner’s dismay the other one squirts while the phone is reconnecting. Before they started having virtual sex, the couple were discussing future wedding plans. They described the green garden they want, the water fountain, the blue skies, the pets, the many beautiful flowers, and the possibility that their love might bloom for a lifetime.

Audio artist of Marital Bliss bio

Kim Windvogel loves semi-nude posting, shit-talking and authentic living. Surprisingly shy but will talk your ear off once they trust you. Compiler of They Called Me Queer (2019), host of Sunday Sex Service (2020), Co-Creator of The Touch Experience (2021) Follow them on Instagram @blazingnonbinary

Virtual Reality Artist of Marital Bliss bio

Good Good Boy’s work is multidisciplinary and inspired by the internet, pop culture, relationships, sexuality, social absurdity and awkwardness, self-deprecating humour and all the pubescent doodles you wrote in your work books in high school when daydreaming. However one is ‘meant’ to create art, Good Good Boy has no idea how. They smear thick layers of oil paint into memes and crying dogs, scratch emojis into canvas, and learn about colour mixing through Google images and Youtube. Whilst Good Good Boy is an expression of introverted thoughts and a side hustle to pay bills, their artistic style can probably be best described by a troll in their Instagram comments “someone who is bored but has decided to paint”.

. Touch: The Fantasy is currently on at TMRW, The Trumpet building, 21 Keyes Ave, Rosebank, Johannesburg , Johannesburg. Viewings are open by appointment. Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 – 15:00. To ensure the safety of everyone, the use of a protective face covering and social distancing is mandatory inside the gallery.