Kenzie Housego - Text Pages.indd

Art Gallery of Alberta

June 10 - October 15, 2023

Kenzie Housego:I

In a lot of ways, flirting is one of the most sophisticated and highly nuanced

forms of communication. Flirting, when done well, is a balanced and playful

ballet that requires a high level of emotional and intellectual intelligence. There

are subtleties of meaning, innuendo, tone, body language and non-verbal

cues passing back and forth between people that, if picked up on correctly,

can result in a fun and rewarding interaction. If cues are not interpreted in the

right way, however, this interaction can quickly devolve into something very

uncomfortable or even dangerous.

Contemporary courtship is a highly technologized process and a lot of any

prospective couple’s initial witty banter now takes place online. Today, tone,

a well-timed brush of the arm, or even a sly bite of the lip can be replaced

by emojis or online slang. Online flirting and courtship are highly coded in

every sense of the word. Kenzie Housego is interested in this coded nature of

courtship communication and how courtship has used technology over time.

She draws a direct line in her work between once common Victorian embroidery

patterns used to convey emotions and intentions to online dating profiles and

flirting over text with suggestive emojis.

Emojis both subvert the directness of written language and elucidate intention

to give online communication the nuance of in-person communication.

Some emojis are clearer or more obvious in their meaning and intention;

the eggplant and the peach, for example, directly reference sexualized body

parts. The expression I U is more ambiguous. It is both direct and guarded

and lies somewhere between the very serious “I love you,” and the platonic

(and sometimes condescending) “love ya.” The use of the emoji softens the

sentiment and could be used when dating to test the waters for a proper

expression of romantic love. It might also be used with someone with whom you

have a purely sexual relationship to express that very specific sort of affection.

Like the subtleties of IRL flirting, emojis allows the texter to circle around

something without being too literal.

The classic emoji heart is particularly nuanced considering the many

interpretations of its nine different colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue,

Kenzie Housego, Primary Data: The Language of Red, Yellow and Blue Roses, 2021. Embroidery, LEDs,

Arduino micro-controller, textiles. Courtesy of the Artist. Photo: Hesam Rezaei.

purple, black, white, brown). In Primary Data: The Language of Red, Yellow

and Blue Roses, 2021 Housego uses floriography or the language of flowers.

Floriography is similar to the visual language of emojis wherein different flowers

and their colours convey varied social meanings. Floriography meanings are

imbued in both the literal flower and its representation as you might find

in many art forms, including embroidery. Like the emoji heart, roses have

varied meanings based on the multitude of their colours found in nature and

in artistic representation. Interestingly, there is some crossover between the

meanings of emoji heart colours and those of roses. In Primary Data, Housego

used red, yellow and blue roses to separate common dating profile messaging

and shorthand into what she sees as three main categories: jealousy (yellow),

romantic love (red), and the unattainable (blue). She has grouped words,

acronyms and sentiments that she has seen come up repeatedly in dating

profiles into these three ranges of emotion. While Housego draws a thread

from Victorian embroidery and floriography to online dating profiles, she also

references more ancient forms of romantic communication. The repeated text

that shows up in dating profiles also recalls common love spells that are among

some of the first things humans rendered onto papyrus or pressed into clay

tablets.

When using dating apps, simplified repeated texts become very familiar

and start to come across as incantations chanted into the digital ether to both

purge oneself from past heartache (no drama, no liars) or conjure the perfect

mate (DTF or Soulmate) and then bind oneself to them (true love, other half).

Love magic has a long history. It is not hard, for example, to imagine a young

Victorian girl in the meditative act of embroidery trying to conjure a suitor, and

likewise today it is common for young children to make up love spells or love

potions in an attempt to catch a crush’s attention.

Equally as meditative and hypnotic as chanting a love spell or stitching an

embroidery pattern is the repeated swiping through apps like Tinder, Grindr

and Bumble. Unlike the methodical repetitive act of stitching, however, the

monotony of swiping periodically results in a match, complete with audio and

visuals. The match triggers “the release of a cascade of neurotransmitters,

including a flood of dopamine, a powerful reward agent that underlies many

addictive behaviors.”

This gamification of dating apps transforms the act of

seeking a partner into swiping towards a payout and chemical reward that is

similar to slot machines.

The interactive works in I

U emulate dating apps’

“gamified interface [that] captivates our insatiable needs for novelty and

validation.”

In the dating world this can result in receiving greater validation

from interacting with the app itself than the much less immediately fulfilling act

of going out on a date and spending the lengthy time and effort it takes to get

to know someone. Housego capitalizes on the attention holding nature of the

digital to make visitors spend more time with the works than they might on a

straight analogue experience.

Flirt Bot and Emoji Bot I, II, and III use simple AI chatbot technology. This is

the same technology commonly used by websites as a small pop-up window

that asks if you need help. The chatbot will recognize key words and phrases

and offer you answers or direct you to certain areas of the website or to a real

person. Depending on how sophisticated the technology is, it can feel like there

is someone on the other end of the chat. Flirt Bot and Emoji Bot I, II, and III in I

U have their own phone numbers that visitors to the exhibition are instructed

to text. Emoji Bot I, II, and III can only interact with the visitor by sending emojis,

and it is up to those who interact with the works to determine their meaning.

Flirt Bot has greater possibility for interaction and reacts to texters with short

phrases. Simultaneous with Flirt Bot’s texts is an LED screen imbedded into

its embroidered surface that lights up with seven possible emoji animations

( , , , , , , ) that echo whatever Flirt Bot is texting. Like with

human flirting, it is possible to offend Flirt Bot and the Emoji Bots and for the

conversation to get derailed.

Underlying the critique of the gamification of dating apps, and AI

communication more generally, is a fear that digital communication will shift

to communication with the digital, eventually replacing human connection

altogether. Being “replaced by robots” is a recurring fear with any new

technology and there is an uneasiness about whether technologies are a

tool to improve our lives or something that will replace humans and/or their

connections with one another. When interacting with Flirt Bot it is not such a

stretch to consider the dystopian film Her. In this 2013 science-fiction film,

Theodor, played by Joaquin Pheonix, is one of many humans who fall in love

and start a relationship with their operating system. In her research for her

chatbot works Housego also came across programs like Slutbot. Slutbot is

a chat bot developed by sex educators as a tool for people to explore their

Kenzie Housego and Gabrielle Odowichuk, Flirt Bot, 2023. Embroidery, LEDs, Arduino micro-controller,

textiles. Courtesy of Kenzie Housego and Gabrielle Odowichuk. Photo: Louie Villanueva.

Kenzie Housego, Emoji Bot, 2023. Embroidery, LEDs, Arduino micro-controller, textiles. Courtesy of the

Artist.

sexuality and practice consent through erotic chat.

Although most sex bot apps

are marketed as practice apps, it is not hard to imagine that chatting with the

sex bot becomes the goal and reward in and of itself and not a means to build

confidence in human interactions outside the app.

There is an easy slippage with digital technologies where, through human usage,

technology shifts from tool to agent. This results in a conflation of who and

what is active and for what ends. Selfie Guys, 2021 and Selfie Ladies, 2023 shift

and blur focus between the active and passive roles of viewer and artwork and

muddy the expected gaze and agency of artworks and technology. The figures in

both works are modeled after real individuals who have volunteered bathroom

selfies to Housego to use in the works. The bathroom selfie became interesting

to Housego as a mainstay of dating profiles, particularly male dating profiles.

The bathroom selfie is one that is taken using the bathroom mirror in both

private and public bathrooms. The subjects of this specific category of selfies

are more often than not shirtless. The missing bathroom mirror in Selfie Guys

and Selfie Ladies, however, means that the cameras of the figures are instead

focused on the viewer. When one approaches the selfie works, a motion sensor

triggers blinking lights placed in the cell phone cameras, creating the illusion

they are taking photos of the viewer. The many blinking flashes are similar to

the experience of a red carpet. The feeling while interacting with these works is

simultaneously one of flattery and of being exposed to a group of embroidered

individuals who are able to both sense and engage with human presence.

The work of Kenzie Housego both scratches at the edges of technological anxieties

and revels in the novel joys of relatively recent dating tropes. While online dating

apps may be skillfully designed to keep you on the app people are still finding their

way together and using technology to do it. The work traces a very clear lineage of

courtship communication from the Victorian age but also taps into a much more

historic and timeless human preoccupation with seeking various types of love and

validation. In many ways, I

U offers visitors carefree interactions and in doing so

asks, what is the harm in engaging playfully with technology?

Kenzie Housego, Selfie Guys, 2021. Embroidery, LEDs, Arduino micro-controller, textiles. Courtesy of the

Artist. Photo: Louie Villanueva.

Endnotes

1 J. F. Borhouts, Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978).

2 Samantha Beck, “The Brain and Swiping for Love,” Scientific Kenyon: The

Neuroscience Edition, vol. 5 (May 2021), https://digital.kenyon.edu/cgi/viewcontent.

cgi?article=1045&context=skneuro.

3 Alina Liu, “Why Dating Apps May Be Keeping You Single,” Psychology Today,

February 10, 2022, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/therapists-

education/202202/why-dating-apps-may-be-keeping-you-single.

4 Ibid.

5 https://www.juiceboxit.com

ARTIST’S BIOGRAPHY

Kenzie Housego

Kenzie Housego recently completed a Master of Fine Art specializing in new media at the University

of Calgary, Mohkinstsis, in Treaty 7 region southern Alberta. As a multidisciplinary artist her practice

includes fibre, embroidery, new media, and assemblage mediums. The use of technology such as LEDs,

Arduino micro-controllers, texting, and screens within her research is symbolic of the virtual realms

in which we participate as a society. The virtual encompasses social media platform activity, online

personas, online dating, and online branding. The digital world has become ubiquitous in communication,

shaping contemporary society, particularly in relation to online representation.

It's important to her that her artwork always offers an invitation for interactivity, encouraging viewers to

shift from passive observers to active co-producers as they engage with the digital media, experience

other points of view, and ultimately, form their own individual meanings. Her recent series titled “

”

explores contemporary courtship, romance, technology and historical signs and signifiers connected to

dating and romance.

Housego has had the opportunity to showcase her art nationally and internationally at Beakerhead

festival in Calgary, CURRENTS festival, Santa Fe New Mexico, Rome MakerFaire, MakerFaire Bay Area in

California, Fashionwear New York, CES Vegas, Xiamen Fashion Week, China, CES ASIA, Shanghai, China,

Dublin Ireland, and at a two-week art residency in Shenzhen, China.

Housego currently lives and practices in Calgary Alberta.

Follow her: @kenziehousego, kenziehousego.com

WRITER’S BIOGRAPHY

Lindsey Sharman

Lindsey V. Sharman is Curator at the Art Gallery of Alberta. She has studied Art History and Curating in

Canada, England, Switzerland and Austria, earning degrees from the University of Saskatchewan and

the University of the Arts, Zurich.

Kenzie Housego and Gabrielle Odowichuk, Flirt Bot, 2023. Embroidery, LEDs, Arduino micro-controller,

textiles. Courtesy of Kenzie Housego and Gabrielle Odowichuk. Photo: Louie Villanueva.