Boys' Clubhouse

SIGGRAPH is a professional association that includes academic papers and symposia designed to appeal to a civic-minded public interested in visual culture, but a certain amount of the boys-will-be-boys attitude associated with big technology conventions like E3 or the electronics shows in Las Vegas remains. I took some photographs that show how gender ideologies still shape a visitor's experiences of the public places and disciplinary spaces associated with the exhibition.

The role of scientific knowledge-sharing was often dwarfed by the spectacle of giant corporate booths in which companies, like Massive software (used for crowd scenes in big-budget movies) promulgate images of bikini-clad women.

At one of the largest panels, one of the co-directors of Shrek, Raman Hui, discussed how the female protagonist in the film was "prettier" with more makeup in the later films. He also chortled about the lack of female animators on staff and consequently their lack of female models for the bust-shots that they wanted to recreate in-house. He also expressed his delight in the catfight sequences in the most recent sequel.

The other lowpoint in the conference was also the showing of the misogynistic Gentlemen's Duel by Blur Studios in the prestigious Electronic Theater.