27/6/2011
Christopher Turner
Cabinet, New York
Book launch for Christopher Turner's Adventures in the Orgasmatron
A talk and screening on the occasion of the publication of Christopher Turner's book Adventures in the Orgasmatron. The author tells us the story of the pre-1960s sexualrevolution in the US, one led by expatriated European thinkers who saw a vast country ripe for liberation. Central to this narrative is the orgone box-a tall, slender construction of wood, metal, and steel wool. A person who sat in the box, it was thought, could elevate his or her ''orgastic potential''-ridding the body of repressive forces and improving sexual potency. Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, J. D. Salinger, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs sat in an orgone box, seeking synthesis of sexual and political liberation. Woody Allen satirized it as the Orgasmatron. Tuesday 28 June 2011, 7-9 pm