BARCELONA – Erika Lust has built a career at the intersection of art and erotica – so it is no surprise that after she had established herself as a pioneer in feminist pornography, she would continue to push the boundaries of the medium. Her newest company, House of Erika Lust (2024), is a vast compelling artificial installation that combines virtual reality and augmented reality, which invites visitors to a choice-your-own adventure through its extensive cinematic oeuvre.
“On the internet is Porno Queen – but there are not many places to take on it in real life,” says Lust. “I think it is fascinating to place sex in an artistic environment as a shared experience.
Lust entered the industry in 2004, when she debuted her first film, The good girl – A feminist twist on the notorious “Pizza delivery guy” plotline, turning the script by centering the perspective and the character development of his female leading role. She founded Erika Lust films in 2005 and quickly developed a reputation as the leading advocate for a new type of porn: erotic but non-heteronormative, artistic but unpretentious.
Unlike much of the online porn, the work of Lust priority gives realistic images of female pleasure – tackling issues such as boundaries and permission, while Putte from lived experiences for inspiration. One of her most popular series, Xconfessions (2013 – Alcèneren), Reinterpret real sexual fantasies that are submitted anonymously by viewers. This is the first thing visitors encounter when entering House of Erika LustCurrently on display in the Poblenou district of Barcelona at a secret location that is unveiled 24 hours before arrival.
Upon arrival I handed over a Maskerade style mask and encouraged to check my inhibitions at the door. Then I am in the Senate, of which a rotating series Xconfessions Films are projected against the distant wall. My favorite is an entry from Stoya, entitled “Dick for a Day” (2023) – in which she experiences what it is like to have a dick for a day.
The following is the VR experience, where I am equipped with a headset and let go in a virtual mansion that is reminiscent Don’t sleep anymore (2011–25). Each room contains interactive elements: a portrait turns into a porn scene with a wave of the hand; Rubbing a foggy mirror reveals a few that has sex. In the library I remove a book – only for his pages to open and play one of the films of Lust.
I am not the only one who looks: there are about 20 other figures in the room, only visible to me as opaque, human avatars. We have no faces, so it is impossible to determine who is walking through me – but I see couples who have clamped their transparent hands together. Visitors have five minutes to explore every “floor” before the landscape shifts, and a series of arrows shuffles us to the next adventure.
More interactive rooms are waiting for the second and third floor. In one place my head in a gigantic ball and I am transported to a 360 -degree warehouse, where men and women caress themselves in a circle around me. In another, a marble sculpture begs to be touched – after which it explodes in shards, each playing a different scene. There is a dungeon and a door that says, “Don’t look.” If you do that, it reveals a keyhole in a BDSM scene, where a Dominatrix uses a leather whip. Between Smacks she checks in with her submissive and asks: “Is this okay?” This attention to realistic articulating dynamics is a characteristic of the work of Lust and offers a counter -story for the unrealistic expectations that are often determined by Mainstream Porno.
House of Erika Lust Offers three setting for guests to choose from: erotic, explicit or ‘surprise me’, a mix of both. “It is explicitly full: you are going to see everything,” says Lust. “Erotic is soft – you don’t have to see penises and vaginas if that is not your thing. And” surprise me ” – well, I can’t say it!”
After exploring the “erotic” setting, I take another turn, this time at the explicit institution. The changes are subtle-as a penis revealed where there was once just over-the-bants, or the opportunity to draw a chain to reveal a new dungeon scene. Then I will continue on “surprise me” – but I am not very surprised, unless I notice that I have interaction with objects that do not respond. I enjoy the experience, but I wish more variation between the settings.
A last room has a 360-degree display of Lust’s more artistic films, set up in gallery style with seats spread everywhere. Couples lean on each other’s shoulders to see strangers fucking; Artistic close-ups show the aesthetic potential of sex. It is the most confrontational of the rooms, because there is little plausible denial: we are almost just together and watch porn – albeit not necessarily the kind that we could select for ourselves.
The installation contains a diverse range of gender and sexuality, offering a window on the erotic imagination of other people. “It is an individual experience, because everyone chooses their own route through the house,” says Lust. “But it is also a collective experience, because we are all in the same room.”
In this sense, the exhibition of Lust goes back to the Golden Age of Porno a time in which strangers come together in cinemas to watch adult films on 35 millimeters. This return of public porn views comes at a time when the content of adults is increasingly being censored. The following legislation such as Fosta-sesta -Two accounts signed in 2018 that apparently directions on sex trade, but those sex workers are in danger-platforms are recorded on content for adults, otherwise they will be held liable for any off-color material that slides through the cracks. And in the absence of pleasure -oriented sex education, younger generations Get used to pornography for information about sex.
This is the cultural background that informs the work of Lust. Her mission is not just to get people off – it is to make them think. She believes that pornography should be interpreted like any other film: as a cultural product with aesthetic and conceptual weight, able to shape our desires and worldview. And with House of Erika LustShe invites viewers to get in touch with sexuality, as they would do, any other artistic medium: critical, curious and without shame.
Since the debut, the exhibition has become a popular destination for couples and girl evenings, which means that attendees think about their own relationship with pornography. “Many people still feel a shame about sex – they have a hard time talking about it and the feeling that it is forbidden,” says Lust. “What I love the most is that people start talking about sex – conversations they have never had before.”
