Episode 3: The Queer Side of SEAF

| Featuring Sophia Iannicelli and Sumu Tasib

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The Queer Side of SEAF

This week on the podcast we have the incredible Sophia Iannicelli, Executive Director of the Pan Eros Foundation and the Seattle Erotic Arts Festival (SEAF). With SEAF coming up soon (April 29), many queer friends have been asking me whether SEAF was inclusive of queer folx, and while I have emphatically told them yes myself, I wanted folx to hear it directly from the director herself. In a wonderfully wide-ranging and dynamic conversation, we talk all about SEAF, eroticism, art, and consent as well as queerness. Since this episode is on the longer side, here’s a list of topics and timestamps from the interview.

  • [00:53] Introduction to the Pan Eros Foundation and SEAF
  • [03:24] Consent and the Consent Academy
  • [07:23] “You can’t consent to art”
  • [09:48] Making SEAF a safe space to be bravely uncomfortable in
  • [14:10] Creating a better sense of us via a greater understanding between people
  • [15:58] Using art to teach what joy and enjoyment can mean for others
  • [18:02] The role of art docents at SEAF
  • [19:55] Different types of art at SEAF: from abstract to “parts into parts”
  • [21:33] How docents and artists interact with attendees
  • [23:36] Artists meeting and collaborating with each other at SEAF
  • [27:05] SEAF has been built by queer people from the very first event
  • [31:38] Erotic art can expand your sense of what turns you on
  • [33:45] Bringing erotic art to the masses
  • [35:38] The impact of moving to Seattle Center
  • [37:20] Why art about our erotic lives is important
  • [39:38] Reactions to SEAF from the traditional art community
  • [42:37] Bringing erotic art to more galleries
  • [45:00] The art of directing SEAF
  • [46:41] What SEAF is not
  • [48:15] The SEAF experience for attendees: come with your walls down
  • [50:06] Experiencing SEAF alone vs. with others
  • [55:40] The literary category at SEAF
  • [61:29] Sophia’s highlights for SEAF 2022

Keywords - SEAF; Seattle Erotic Arts Foundation; erotic art; erotic literature; consent; Pan Eros Foundation; Consent Academy; Sophia Iannicelli; Gallery Erato