🏆 Big news from Amsterdam: Anan Fries has won the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling with ARTIFICIAL SEX (Ep. 1 & 2)! 👏 Congrats! -——— What happens when you fall for your AI companion? 🤖🧠 For artist hairygaze , it sparked an interactive installation that began with a flirtation between Fries and “ Alice”, a virtual girlfriend created via the Replika app. ❤︎ From there, it evolved into a critical, playful, and personal work on digital bodies, sexuality, and authorship. ❤︎ Using 3D-printed alternative sexual organs, touch interfaces, and conversations with AI avatars like Elon Musk’s anime bot Ani, the project, challenges traditional norms around gender and pleasure. ————— ✨ The IDFA DocLab jury specifically praised the nuanced critique of biases in AI and the way the installation “queers” online representation of bodies and sexuality: “The winning artwork offers a personal reflection on representation, authorship, and sexuality, taking a multi-layered approach to these...