EROTICANDY

A Food and Future Exploration through the lenses of Design, Culture, Society and Technology

Module 3 - Communication Design & Media (BA - KEA) 2016

INTRODUCTION

What will the future of food look like? Can we use technology to boost food and dining experiences? Can technology or radical changes in our way of eating redress inequalities in the world, eliminate poverty and hunger? There are plenty of questions, potential answers and stories to tell. This module seeked to investigate the future of food design as well as those tendencies and trends that might lead to new scenarios. The module opened up a discussion about opportunities, challenges and dilemmas concerning technological development with a specific focus on food in regard to nutrition, ethics, aesthetics, packaging, etc.

For this assignment I had to work with food communication, packaging design, edible design, food as art, food aesthetics and ethics. The overall emphasis was on food as interaction. Additionally, I had to work with different media platforms and used these to communicate new food trends with an eye to the critical aspects of our time. I was required to find a specific story to tell about food and to make choices for how to best disseminate it, including on which platforms.

FRAMEWORK

- I received an ingredient (or a product) and a food situation that became the point of departure for the story I wished to tell.

- I had to angle the story and write a trend article anno 2016 that gives my readers insight into an actual food trend. At the same time, the article had to indicate how this trend could develop in the future.

- I had to, in addition to the trend article, “transport” my story into the years 2026 and 2036, respectively, choosing two other media platforms that it could appear on.

- I had to maintain a critical mindset throughout the process in regard to story, genre and media.

- I had to disseminate my story on a minimum of three media platforms.

PRELIMINARY BRIEF 

SCAN, PRINT AND EAT SWEET sexy objects 

“After a night of drinking, she came up with the idea to make a mold of her penis so that she could cast objects to sell on her fundraiser site - things like candy, chocolate and candles.“ On short, this is the story of Rebecca Kling, a 28-year-old transwoman from Chicago, who 3D-scanned her penis before removal and used the mold to cast various edible and decoration objects to raise funds for her operation, and to talk about gender equality and sexuality issues, and nonetheless, to use her body parts as communication, food and interaction artefacts. 

What do candy, sex and 3D scanning/printing have in common? 

Rebecca’s story opens new horizons in the way we perceive and engage with food (and pleasure foods - candy, chocolate) in 2016. Therefore, how can modern technology influence or change our perception of candy and sex? Pleasure is the direct connection between candy and sex, but at a closer analysis and deeper semiotic and cultural decoding, we find that candy is also tainted with the notion of sin and throughout the history, candy has been associated with adultery, poison, disease, addiction and vice. From the chemical point of view, there are similarities in the way sugar and sex is affecting our brains and bodies - both dopamine and oxytocin are “pleasure” and “cuddling“ hormones, but with the same risk of developing addictions. So, why not bringing the two elements together and explore new horizons in both areas? In my research so far, I found a plethora of examples on how candy could take sexy shapes, and that they have a special place in the erotic industry and practices. The interesting part is that the technology is already here, enabling us to create food items that go beyond the basic purpose of nourishment, and provoke us to act and interact with food in unexpected ways. The technological advancements in 3D scanning and 3D printing enable candy producers to create all-shapes of candies and gummies (such as Katjes - the Germany candy company, that claims they make the first 3D printer for food available to the public) and there is only a matter of time until one can scan and 3D print his/her genitalia in order to bring some sugar and spice in the bedroom, or to give it as an original gift (a realistic and detailed edible replica of own genitalia) to someone with sense of humor and erotic playfulness, or to create entertaining events and happenings. The sex-toy industry is also growing, and it started using the 3D scanning and printing technologies, and as the future trends of sex predict, by 2025, it will be possible to 3D-print the body parts of your lover, enabled with touch feedback, adding intense realism to long-distance sex. Doing this preliminary research and going back to Rebecca’s story, I found out that an important trend to observe in the food and technology industry is that there are no limits on how one can communicate and engage an audience, open debates and conversations around sex, politics, health care, and food in the future, being very interesting to see how design and new technology can develop new ways to engage new audiences in this matter.