Ballardian

Since posting about Ballard World, it would appear things are moving quicker than we imagined.

According to this newspaper article, “A sex theme park designed to enhance its visitors’ lovemaking skills will open in the heart of London within months, the academy’s director announced on Wednesday. Amora — The Academy of Sex and Relationships is hoping to seduce up to 600,000 visitors through the doors in its first year once it opens on September 7. Although the theme park will have no rides, thousands of visitors are expected to swing through its seven sectors, including the Pleasure and Orgasm areas. Instead of ‘real exhibits’, they will be treated to tactile displays of life-sized silicone models designed to stimulate interest in erogenous zones”.

Now, here’s the smoking gun. The article goes on to say: “Both sexes have the chance to learn how best to kiss and how to talk in a more sexy fashion. But if these prove ineffective, visitors are able to build their ideal partner from a series of body parts”.

What a giveaway…JGB’s Atrocity Exhibition has clearly been used as an instruction manual for the park’s designers. I quote the following as ‘Exhibit A’, from p. 54 of RE/Search’s Atrocity volume:

“THE SEX KIT: …Dr Nathan explained… ‘one may regard this as a kit, which Talbert has devised — it might even be feasible to market it commercially. It contains the following items: (1) Pad of pubic hair, (2) a latex face mask, (3) six detachable mouths, (4) a set of smiles, (5) a pair of breasts, (6) a set of non-chafe orifices, (7) photo cut-outs of a number of narrative situations — the girl doing this and that, (8) a list of dialogue samples, of inane chatter, (9) a set of noise levels, (10) descriptive techniques for a variety of sex acts, (11) a torn anal detrusor muscle, (12) a glossary of idioms and catch phrases, (13) an analysis of odour traces (from various vents), mostly purines, etc., (14) a chart of body temperatures (axillary, buccal, rectal), (15) slides of vaginal smears, chiefly Ortho-Gynol jelly, (16) a set of blood pressures, systolic 120, diastolic 70 rising to 200/150 at onset of orgasm…

Dr Nathan put down the typescript. ‘…together the inventory is an adequate picture of a woman, who could easily be reconstituted from it. In fact, such a list may well be more stimulating than the real thing…a kindling of the few taste buds left in the jaded palates of our so-called sexuality’.”

p. 54, J.G. Ballard, The Atrocity Exhibition, RE/Search Publications, 1990