Proposal for a porn company

“This piece is pretty much related to the architecture of certain spaces and structures, which is linked to a group of men associated with a social class that is ultimately attached to the current new liberal economy. When this architecture was put together, it successfully established a universalized image of what a successful attractive man should look like, according to our universalized contemporary social norms. The type of men I am talking about here basically consists of men who are professionally required to wear suits for a certain amount of hours as part of their demand of paid labor, that is, men we normally meet in banks, real estate companies, airports, business lounges, hotels, and so on. Their presence normally comes with a certain amount of power, control, seduction, attraction and frustration, and sometimes discomfort and anxiety as well, which all in all provides enough reasons to dedicate a piece and a research to understand and imagine other unpublished aspects and dimensions of this social group’s life.

I am also aware that I might be objectifying and marginalizing this group of men, although they are represented as a powerful successful majority in the mainstream channels of our contemporary culture.

I have always been interested in the subject of power and the social construction of the male identity, and masculinity in general, in the complicated contemporary economic and technological environment we are universally sharing right now, so I am glad I had a chance to focus entirely on that through the piece. Also, somehow I think my previous works had some boundaries and limitations due to the way I used to approach the subjects and researches I work on, and I feel that this project changed and encouraged me to push these boundaries and limits a bit further, which I think was basically the effect of the fresh interaction with Sao Paulo as a city, and Videobrasil’s collection as a foundational point of departure for the whole project. 

It’s very difficult to point specific aspects of my creative process, as I normally don’t have any clear elements to address or prove in my practice in general, or at least I tend not to. I think other people would certainly observe this better than I would, because for me it always depends on the period, place and context of the projects I am working on. These aspects shape me, and they shape the work that comes out at the end as well.”

Mahmoud Khaled in a statement to PLATFORM:VB (January 2016)