Here Come the Ecosexuals!
10.12.19 / Video
By Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle
Lecture, 6.10.19, Helmut List Halle
In their lecture, Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle introduce ecosexuality—a new sexual orientation and an activist strategy for times of ecological catastrophe. For ecosexuals, nature is a romantic partner and lover. It is sensual, erotic, and sexy. Ecosexuality does not exclude sex with humans because humans are part of nature. Since founding the ecosexual movement in 2008, Stephens and Sprinkle have seen themselves as sexecologists, exploring the liminal regions between sexology and environmental studies. Their work as artists and educators has focused on giving substance to this expanded definition of love and sensuality through multimedia art projects, international conferences, walking tours, workshops, and films, through which they have reached a growing circle of avid followers. Their talk in Graz combines stories, photos, and video clips of their adventures in love, sex, breast cancer, and environmental activism. They give the audience an orientation in ecosex, sharing twenty-five ways to make love with the earth and showing that environmentalism can be sexy and fun.
Beth Stephens (1960, Montgomery, West Virginia) is a sculptor, filmmaker, photographer, and art educator. Annie Sprinkle (1954, Philadelphia) is a former sex worker, sex educator, TV moderator, and performance artist. Stephens and Sprinkle have been life partners and creative collaborators since 2004, producing performance art, theater, ecosex symposiums, weddings to nature entities, walking tours, and visual art exhibitions. Sprinkle and Stephens are based in San Francisco.