Every year at Sundance, there’s at least one racy sex film. This year, you get seven for the price of one in Destricted. The “hornographic” movie gathers new short films by seven of the art world’s most controversial provocateurs: Matthew Barney has sex with a giant deforestation machine; Gaspar Noé films “a journey into autoerotic epilepsy”; Larry Clark auditions young male wannabe porn stars and films the lucky winner. We spoke to three of the directors.
Richard Prince
Films a seventies-inspired cowboy-porno for his short.
Do you watch conventional pornography?
There’s a video store near where I live that has a back room for X-rated videos. There’s no he/she, no pissing, no German or Greek … no amateurs. Boring. I used to watch porn in Times Square when I worked in the area—“loops” from Sweden.
What single artwork do you think is the sexiest?
I like Diane Arbus’s photos of nudist camps.
Biggest turn-on?
Stills from the early fifties of the wife-swapping clubs in Texas.
Biggest turn-off?
Nazis.
What’s the last thing that shocked you?
Getting a plaster cast of Jimi Hendrix’s penis for a Christmas present.
Sam Taylor Wood
Films a porn star masturbating in the middle of a Western desert.
Do you watch conventional pornography?
I actually get more turned on by fantasizing about being in a tent with Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger than anatomical close-ups.
What single artwork do you think is the sexiest?
Jackson Pollock at Work, by Hans Namuth.
Biggest turn-on?
Cowboys, vegans, and tight T-shirts. Sweat.
Biggest turn-off?
Bad breath.
What’s the last thing that shocked you?
How much underwear I own from Agent Provocateur.
Marina Abramovic
Films a strange series of vignettes inspired by Balkan sexual folk wisdom.
Do you watch conventional pornography?
I am always interested in pornography to see what’s new, but it’s all very predictable.
What single artwork do you think is the sexiest?
The Origin of the World, by Courbet.
Biggest turn-on?
Paolo Canevari (my boyfriend) dancing to Roy Orbison.
Biggest turn-off?
Anything pushy or overly explicit.
What’s the last thing that shocked you?
Woody Allen’s Match Point. The idea that doing bad things could pass by unpunished was disturbing to me. It invites the possibility for evil.