London Sex Thought Art Show by Former Financial Services Authority Adviser Is Great Success

Nov. 20, 2010 - PRLog -- this is an example of the press coverage the event received:

http://brentford.hounslowchronicle.co.uk/2010/11/artistic-sex-stunt-held-at-bre.html

andré plans to put the exhibit on at a larger venue in london later this year and in january, and in deventer, in the netherlands, in february

what some viewers said:

lauren said:

“i would say that I found the experience quite relaxing. this was actually a surprise as i thought it would be uncomfortable or just odd but actually knowing what someone is thinking kind of puts you in control of the social interaction. i think sometimes when you meet someone you spend some of your time wondering what they think of you so having that already established you are quite at ease. the fact that it was sex that you were thinking of was not necessarily an issue.”

lawrence said:

"andre rostant's experiment is both entertaining and engaging... I mean, aggravating and annoying... no wait, embarrassing and nerve racking... hang on... well, what i can certainly say is that andre rostant's experiment is revealing.  how would you react to a random guy telling you that he was currently visualising having sex with you?  now that you think you know, try it out; you may be surprised."

mark said

i'm gutted i never had the time to come and see you.

andré himself said

for the first 35 minutes, people read the handout, looked at the poster, giggled nervously or raised their eyebrows skeptically, and avoided me - but as soon as the first viewer sat at the table, things changed - she had read the blurb, knew exactly what the thought was and we began - without prompting, she started talking about her feelings and this was the beginning of an evening where some just looked into my eyes for a while, but many talked to me frankly about all sorts of things - a very few, erotic, but mostly about their deep feelings - one person even spontaneously, and very emotionally, confessed to having been unfaithful to their partner! others opened up about various aspects of their lives and worlds, but not one, after the initial instant, reported unease, even though i looked into their eyes steadily and they knew exactly what i was thinking - some found it erotic, at least one found it threatening, but most people found it very interesting, a bit curious - a bit liberating

only two men volunteered - one, after being prompted by his girlfriend - he wasprofoundly ill at ease, teetered between revulsion, disbelief and a very obvious urge to get up and hit me - in the end, he sort of laughed it off and retreated to his girlfriend a little grumpilly - sadly, i didn't get a chance to talk with him later - i think he was avoiding me... the other young man who volunteered found the thought very intellectually provocative and not as unnerving as he would have expected - after that, only one person who read the blurb and sat with me did not want me to think the thought, so i didn't - we did discuss it, though, and she found the whole thing thought provoking but utterly distasteful - funilly, she is the only person of the whole evening who suggested to me that it was a bit pervy - almost everybody else took it completely sereiuosly as art and liked the whole idea/experience - obviously there were a few skeptics but almost nobody, as far as i could tell, doubted the integrity of the exhibit

people spent much longer sitting viewing, and experiencing the thought, than i had expected - they spent about 10/15 minutes each on average as opposed to the 20 seconds to 3 minutes i had anticipated - also they spoke a great deal more than i'd expected and, a couple of times, so did i - but the thought was always there, always known to be there - in public for all to know about

in the end, when the event closed, i hadn't seen everybody who wanted to be seen and one young lady even asked me to do the exhibit at the bus stop on the way home, so we did it there which met with a mixed reaction at the bus stop of interest / amusement / revulsion and a bit of humour

this was the handout people read:

why make an exhibition of thinking about sex?

most of us are very good at looking at sex and sexualised art, but how often do you consider what it is to be a random sex object?

i want you to reflect on the way we don't think about thinking about sex and the consequences of the thought itself - without the act ever happening - i want to demonstrate the power, the impact of thought on its own - with no nudity or crudeness - just the bare thought - is it erotic? is it threatening or provocative? remember, you could be any kind of person of any sexuality – i will still look into your eyes and i will still think just about having sex with you

think of all the modern media/technology in the world geared solely to sharig speech and images more speedily,  and art that conveys  thoughts and ideas by sound, depiction or demonstration

here you share an idea straight out of my mind - not a representation, demonstration, sound, acting out, explanation or other manifestation - just the thought being there, in my mind, and you knowing that you are experiencing that specific thought

history is full of examples of people martyred just for thinking, and the modern world is not immune to fear of thought – are you?

i hope that this reveals the kind of rationale for sharks in tanks and piles of bricks – but it goes further - it takes away the medium – and affirms that art is about sewing a germ of reflection about the world in a way that enhances our appreciation of it – our appreciation, in this instance, of the power of thought

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to make it absolutely clear, if they were to sit in front of me at the exhibition, i would equally purposefully think of having sex george osborne, kate middleton, robert mugabe or carla bruni

andré would be happy to stage the exhibit at any event raising money for victims of, or awareness of hiv/aids in early december, around world aids awareness day, or at any event promoting/supporting freedom of thought and conscience - so do get in touch

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André is new to the art world and hopes to give it the sort of tonic shakeup that magritte did in his time