TZUSOO is experimenting with extending the major horizons of art, the expression of objects, to Virtual

Reality. The VR work Prude Boys of Stuttgart(2018) depicts five young boys and their rooms that she met in

Stuttgart.

 

Wearing VR Glasses, a player finds her/himself lying on the bed in the artist's room, and the icons of five

boys in front. The player picks one person, pushing a select button, and goes into his room. The boys,

embodied in 3D channels, are waiting fort the player in their private rooms. On walls, floors, and ceilings,

there are huge holes that are not existing originally, or objects are surreal. There are different music in the

room and the sky through the windows has a different atmosphere. Thus, their rooms have been

restructured to match the affections that the artist has to the object - the owner of the room.

The player who enters the room by her/his choice freely and secretly walks about space and observes

anything. From the outside, others do neither interfere the player’s time, nor know where and what the

player is watching on. When certain conditions are met, the audience returns to the bed of TZUSOO and

again is able to pick up one of the five boys.

 

Prude Boys of Stuttgart  through VR technology is reminiscent of dating sims. Dating sims, or romance

simulation games (恋愛シミュレーションゲーム ren'ai shimyurēshon gēmu), are a video game

subgenre of simulation games, usually Japanese and Korean, with romantic elements. The most common

objective of dating sims is to date, usually choosing from among several female characters, and to achieve

a romantic relationship. But the work contrasts in that the subject is male bodies, not females.

The work is followed by a study of sex and gender, one of her main artistic theme, as the words Prude

Boys(2018) in the title suggest.

 

 

 

Text Gyusik Lee