The Seattle Erotic Art Festival was founded in 2002 and is the flagship program of the
nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
Pan Eros Foundation.
The Festival supports a vibrant creative community, promotes
freedom of expression
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...
, and fosters
sex-positive culture through public celebration of the arts.
It is an annual weekend-long event, and showcases erotic art in diverse media including
painting
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
,
photography
Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...
,
sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
,
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
,
literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
, and
interactive installations
Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often cal ...
. A wide range of
performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
is also represented, including
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. ,
ballroom dance
Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and te ...
,
circus arts, and
live music
A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...
.
The Festival also features an expansive store which sells original works, prints, oddities, collectibles and related
merchandise
Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...
from contributing artists.
History
The first Seattle Erotic Art Festival was held in 2003.
The inaugural show was hosted by the Pan Eros Foundation (formerly the
Foundation for Sex Positive Culture) at the town hall in the
Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...
neighborhood and saw over 1000 attendees.
The Festival was hosted at a variety for locations over its first few years, including
Fremont Studios
before finding a more permanent location at the Seattle Center Exhibition hall, where it's been held since 2008.
Content
Past festivals have included original theatrical productions,
interactive art
Interactive art is a form of art that involves the spectator in a way that allows the art to achieve its purpose. Some interactive art installations achieve this by letting the observer walk through, over or around them; others ask the artist ...
installations and visual erotic art.
Each year, festival visitors and a selected jury vote for Viewer's Choice and Jury Awards, respectively.
Controversies
In 2007, Festival organizers were turned down by "a dozen" regional publishers who refused to print their program before finding a local printer who would take the job.
External links
Seattle Erotic Art Festival homepagePan-Eros Foundation homepage
References
{{Reflist
Erotic events
Festivals in Seattle
Erotic art