Kuang-Yi Ku’s ‘Fellatio Modification Project’ harnesses the hidden sexual power of orthodontic retainers
If a potential trip to the dentist doesn't light a fire in your loins, you're not alone. Historically, medical advancement has had little to do with pleasure, with most of us leaving the doctor's office dribbling from fading anaesthetic rather than lust. Hospitals, doctor's waiting rooms and dentist's surgeries are sterilised spaces where we go to be fixed, numbed, mended and cleaned. One individual who is looking to conflate ideas around eroticism and medical science is Taiwanese dentist come multimedia artist, Kuang-Yi Ku.
Ku, who graduated with double master degrees with dentistry from National Yang-Ming University and communication design from Shih Chien University, is bringing together notions around body modification, gender studies, queer theories, and dentistry with his Fellatio Modification Project. The results were displayed earlier this month at King's College's Science Gallery.
A practising dentist, Ku's project is a rumination on how tissue engineering and other biological techniques of dentistry might enhance sensory pleasure during oral sex, specifically in homosexual culture. Ku's workshop invited in members of the public to play around with dentists's tools to create oral sex enhancers built around the scaffolding of a retainer. It concluded with a talk featuring himself, Anisha Gupta, and Carly Billing, who have collaborated with Ku on a Cunnilingus/Anilingus Modification Project that looks much to the same end goal as his fellatio thesis, via dental dams, but for lesbian culture.
His work is both a scientific and aesthetic look at the advancement of sex toys and accessories, as well as surgeries. It attempts to imagine almost absolute physical pleasure, and has already spurned global conversations. Nothing of this kind exists in any dentistry journals. In fact, the project won 1st prize at the Taipei Digital Art Awards in 2015. I visited Ku and Dr Daniel Glaser, Director of Science Gallery London, ahead of Ku's first London workshop to see the prototypes and discuss how his work might open up new ways of thinking about oral sex and in doing so, improve sexual health knowledge.
What inspired this project?
Kuang-Yi Ku: I got the inspiration for my designs from this Japanese man who came to Taiwan to star on an adult TV show. He was gay but performed a blow job on a straight person – who had an orgasm. The guy got very famous in Taiwan; he was interviewed on the news. I was struggling with ideas for my thesis at the time and I was struck by how his technique was so powerful it transcended physical or emotional attraction. I thought to myself “how could you enhance oral sex even further?”.
Are you creating new materials and tools from scratch or just modifying existing techniques?
Kuang-Yi Ku: My retainers have implanted textures in the roof of the mouth-fitting. The ridges are soft and are constructed from soft liner which is a denture material used for old people. Already we have technology available that means when an organ is broken, bioscientists have researched extensively on how to re-build an accurate artificial organ – for example, they can make cells grow and produce a new liver. I want to apply this type of technology for the purpose of sex. I was also inspired by the innovative textures used by Japanese sex toy manufacturer, Tenga, who I've collaborated with. Their sex toys are so beautiful they look like sculptures. Your mum wouldn't realise what it was if she saw it in your room.
“The patients are ignorant about any technology, so, we're controlled by the patriarchal medical system. I want to transform that” – Kuang-Yi Ku
I know you've been studying in the Netherlands, but how was the project received in Taiwan?
Kuang-Yi Ku: You have to remember in Asia there is no same-sex marriage. However on the 30th October Taiwan Pride took place and it was the biggest in Asia. We are fighting for our rights. The people against same-sex marriage are Christian. Being from a gay community in Taiwan, I can see how the medical system is constantly desperate to define what a 'clean healthy body' is. The patients are ignorant about any technology, so, we're controlled by the patriarchal medical system. I want to transform that.
Why have you not put them into production? I can imagine the retainers at market already now I've seen them...
Kuang-Yi Ku: My retainers would be too expensive to produce currently, not just because the dentistry materials are so expensive, but also because each retainer will have to be custom made. Every individual has their own sexual preference. This afternoon I will let people design their own unique texture. I will teach how to use the material but the rest is personal.
How has body modification culture inspired this project?
Kuang-Yi Ku: In the future, I imagine people might want to permanently modify their mouths. They might get the soft tissue added into the roofs of their mouths. Body modification within BDSM communities already exists, so if the technology matures enough- people will use it. I imagine in the future people might modify their tongue's width and length for cunnilingus.
Tell me about your “Bird Beak Clone” surgery?
Kuang-Yi Ku: I want to hypothesise about a jaw extension surgery to extend the oral cavity. People love deep throat but it causes the gagging reflex. The reverse surgical procedure exists for birth defects, so I used a 3D printer to imagine a surgery that would pull out lower and upper jaw bone like a drawer.
Is this all a possible near-reality?
Dr Glaser: Lots of people won't be familiar with tissue culture and the usage of these designs remains speculative. But, this project is not speculative in the sense that the techniques described, exist. We think this opens up a really interesting set of conversations which are going to become more and more important as the technology advances. The ideas might be controversial because they suggest medical technological design should be about enhancing pleasure and not just reducing harm or pain.
What's the response been like overall?
Kuang-Yi Ku: A congressman in Taiwan discovered our government had given over some budget to my project which he thought wasn't right so he went onto a political TV show and debated. For me it was interesting. Design should not just be about products but also about creating new environments that get people thinking.
Dr Glaser: I think it’s going to cause a lot of different responses and a discussion. Interestingly the Cunnilingus/Anilingus Modification project come up with an interesting health angle that we did not expect- the biggest increase of mouth cancer is now not smoking but oral sex. We were every pleased that the oral health organisation welcomed the project as a really good way to get young people to engage in a conversation about the health complications of oral sex.
Learn more about Kuang-Yi Ku’s “Fellatio Modification Project” here