About the project
The Aphrodite Project is a series of new media artworks inspired by the cult of Aphrodite, in both antiquity and present-day contexts. In temples across the ancient world, Aphrodite was worshipped by both men and women, due to her influence over nature, fertility, seafaring, civic harmony as well as raw sexuality. Her priestesses, the hetairai, performed sexual acts in homage to her as a sacrifice for the fertility of the land and its people. The sacred prostitution of her priestesses was intrinsically tied to religion, ritual and public policy, seen as a social service and legitimate commerce.
Platforms, the latest series of work in the Aphrodite Project, is an interactive, wearable device that is both a conceptual homage to Aphrodite and her prostitute-priestesses as well as a practical object for the contemporary sex worker. An integrated system of shoes and online services, Platforms uses the latest technology to bring sex workers on par with other public workers, whose lives are valued highly because they work in dangerous professions that serve the needs of the community.
Historical references describe the hetairai of antiquity as beautiful women bedecked in fine clothes and jewels with sandals which would leave the imprint “Follow Me” written in the earth. The Platforms they inspired are 6-inch, silver leather sandals with built-in video and GPS technology that links the wearer to emergency services and an online community network (http://theaphroditeproject.tv). These design elements combine the rich mythology of Aphrodite with the concerns of sex workers on the streets: safety, promotion, and community.
Norene Leddy’s work combines video, sculpture and installation and has been shown in solo and group shows in New York, Boston and Cyprus among others. Leddy has received several fellowships and awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship. In 2001, Sanctuary (http://www.nobetty.net/aphrodite) re-activated the Sanctuary of Aphrodite in Paphos, Cyprus. A series of large-scale video projections and audio installations throughout the sanctuary used the Aphrodite of antiquity as a starting point and combined her with images of contemporary Cypriot domesticity: local supermarkets and the home-life of Cypriot women. In 2006 Platforms is in development during an artist’s residency at Eyebeam Center for Art and Technology in Chelsea. Leddy earned an M.F.A. from Parsons School of Design in New York, where she currently teaches drawing and video.
Platforms is a collaboration with Andrew Milmoe, a new media artist and physical computing expert (http://www.milmoe.com). Milmoe currently builds his own interactive art by developing electronic platforms for creative public expression. He earned a B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon and a M.P.S. from New York University.
To learn more, go to http://theaphroditeproject.tv.