Fisting the Future

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An exploration of queer metaphysical, urban environments.

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How has the prevalent use of sexual geo-spacial apps within queer communities altered the physical/metaphysical urban environments and emotional landscapes of our lives and where will these technologies take us in the future?

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Prelude Design Rational Introduction Literature Review Methodology Part I - Gays in the Shell

Grindr, an Overview of its Users and their Usage Discourse on the Grid The Subversion of Grindr Urbanisation In the Time of Grindr Part II - Tales From The Principality of Grindr-Land

Anecdotes From Those Who Navigate The Space Part III - A Bed With 6 Bois On

Grindrs Exxxtension of the Body Alternative Ontologies of Existence Future Fuckers Glossary Reference List Bibliography

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NOTE: Where words are underlined, their definition can be found in the Glossary.

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Design Rational The artefact encasing the book has been created to look like an informational organism editing within a possible posthuman, which was created in the image of a queerised posthuman body. Its smooth skin and folds evoking some similarities to the human form, but its lack of figure, limbs and emotive features leave us as the fore-parent confused and somewhat disgusted. An organism which contains information. The art work of Jason Hopkins (2011) has similarities in aesthetics and contextual background. As does the film director David Cronenberg, with his pioneering of the body horror genre - most notably Videodrome (1983) and eXistenZ (1999). This idea of the informational organism is what can be used as an agent for navigating the metaphysical realm.

While graphically this dissertation has been designed to reflect the graphic styles of Cronenbergs films, and other similar films of that time. With its neo-gothic type faces, and rigid layouts, and darkness. Creating a bleak and mysterious air around its pages.

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Introduction Within recent years the mobile app has proliferated nearly every mobile of those living within the world, even more so for those living in urban environments and metropolises. While within the gay and queer community, one app in particular, Grindr - has worked its way into the life of almost every individual within the queer nation. Grindr’s usage within gay/queer communities has become a blasé fixture of what it is to be queer and living in a city like London. The current queer landscapes of cities over recent years has drastically evolved, particularly that of London. With queer spaces closing down, gay neighbourhoods disseminating through gentrification, and resurgences with gay super-clubs gaining popularity to the masses of the mainstream. Grindr’s technology has been employed by its users in many different ways, many of which act as an extension of the body which technologically enables new ways for queer/ gay people to navigate urban environments.

This dissertation will discuss queerness in its current state relating to the technology of geo-spacial apps, specifically Grindr (2017). While focusing on how the app has forged new metaphysical landscapes within existing urban environments, in which queer bodies can inhabit. Furthermore this essay speculates to where these technology will speculatively take the idea of queerness in the future. It takes interest in the connectivity which technology creates, through data transfers and sexual transactions. All moving between the metaphysical urban landscapes of Grindr and the physical environments of cities, due to my location and experience this research is predominantly based on and within London.

Queer ideology is often concerned with futurity; the next step. When being queer is defined as the pushing of boundaries, understandings, or even the striving for a horizon of ‘something else’. It can be seen as the pushing towards the future - as if future was a physical space in which can be pushed towards.

This is where futurity and queerness come to fruition, in the in between of ‘this and that’.

“Queerness is not here yet. Queerness is an identity. Put another way, we are not yet queer. We may never touch queerness, but we can feel it as the warm illumination of a horizon imbued with potentiality. We have never been queer, yet queerness exists for us as an identity that can be distilled from the past and used to imagine a future. The future is queerness’s domain” Muñoz, J. (2009).

This definition Muñoz gives of queerness, is the definition to which I most liken to my own. An identity that I characterise myself with. Although with very little

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ability to describe, as I do not yet know what queer wholly means. Further than this, he enforces a point I believe in; that queerness belongs to the realm of the future. Throughout this writing Cruising Utopia (2009) will play a large part in dealing with what queerness means, and where does this fit or disconnect with the future and technology. As well as this, where could this possibly take us in the future, and what could this look, feel and mean for queerness beyond the physical present.

The technology which I will concern this writing with initially and primarily is Grindr. Grindr is a location based (geo-spacial) ‘hook-up’/dating mobile application. While web based dating sites have been around since the dawn of the internet, Grindr innovated the incorporation of geo-location. It is primarily populated by gay males, of which is its primary target audience. Its user demographic also includes transpeople, queer people, bisexual and those questioning experimenting with their sexual interests.

I will look at Grindr with a queer futurist perspective as Grindr is not inherently a queer technology. It is used by queer people of many different identities, however they are not the majority, it is largely used by gay males. Using Grindr as an example I will explore how a technology can become an extension of the human body, beyond being an app for for a singular use and becoming a tool for unlocking the metaphysical landscape which it operates within. With transhumanism being the ideology that will merge with queerness.

This queer futurist nuance will permeate through the language in which I use along with invent, and the vernacular in which I will deliver it. I want to also note the point that throughout this dissertation I will sometimes be referencing my own queer identity and my place within the queer community. Using anecdotes from myself and other users from Grindr, through poetry and with agency. This is to attempt to dismantle an academic activity within an institution into a queer infosphere. I believe this is an important aspect of writing this dissertation as academia can often be an elitist and non inclusive, which can be extremely damning to its liberality, and accessibility. I use authors such as Henning Bech (1997), Jose Muñoz (2009), and Zach Blas (2012) as examples and key references, who’s queer academic writing in an inspirational, accessible, and thought provoking way. Bech uses both fictional and non-fictional anecdotal stories as case studies, to illustrate theories on the homosexual experience and contemporary living. Muñoz utilises poetry, artwork and conversational transcribes as elements which he compares and contrasts, into a conversation that suggests here and now are not enough as a canvas for queerness. And for Blas, he first sets him self up as a (fictional) organisation rather than as an individual. Of which provides (fictional) applications, tools, and situations for queer techno-

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logical agency. By re-inventing/re-imaging existing technology to enable them for queer use, “Queer Technologies critiques the hetero-normative, capitalist, militarized underpinnings of technological architectures, design, and functionality” (Blas, Z. 2012). This is all done using writing and dialogues as the mode of realisation, for things that couldn’t otherwise exist. Another key researcher, artist, architect and writer, of whom’s I reference though out this dissertation is the work of Andres Jaque. In particular his works Intimate Strangers (2016) and Pornified Homes (2017), both of which are video essays on the themes of sexualising architecture, technology and urban living.

This dissertation will sit in tandem to previous pieces I have written, in particular titled Artificial Gender Intelligence (Steward, 2016) . Which talked of the issues AI experience being crated by gendered beings, and in turn experiencing second handed gendered tributes. Furthering this how we as humans could speculatively use Cyborg bodies and AI as vehicles to elevate us from the realms of gendered attributes. I mention this as to position my frame of reference, and to anchor this research to my previous work in the realms of queer theory and futurism. My interest in queer theory, the internet and technology is an ongoing conversation, between myself and the world around me. Which I want to be reflected in this dissertation through creating a dialogue, which pushes me further towards the horizon of queerness.

With the limitations of this dissertation I am not hesitant to say that this is the beginning of a larger body of research and writing. There are many avenues within this writing which are not fully explored, not due to lack of awareness, but instead due to lack of time and space.

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Methodology As briefly aforementioned; within this dissertation I have looked in depth at the writings and research of other people whose work is extensive within this field of work. Within my literature review, I focus on the pieces of work which have influenced my writing and field of thought. While also finding new ways of visualising this concept of the metaphysical space of Grindr I have looked to more visual media such as sci-fi films, art, and documentaries.

My primary research comes from talking with users of Grindr, I have spoken with users through the app and in person to talk in depth about their usage and experiences on the app. Most of the users I have spoken to have been residents of London (and a few of Barcelona), but have come from all across the world (Italy, USA, UK, Spain, China, India). Some of those identifying as non-binary and/or queer. With this I also offer my own personal anecdotal experience as a queer long time user of Grindr, and many other gay geo-spacial apps.

I have separated this writing into thee parts, to make it as clear as possible as to the path I am taking within this research. Each part delving deeper into the experiences, identities and entities found within the space of Grindr.

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Literature Review Intimate Strangers - Andres Jaque (2016) A video easy in the form of an installation which studies the evolution of Grindr, and its users. But in more depth explores the way geolocation apps have forged a network culture which is defining and designing new ways of interacting and behaving. It shows a series of stories on how the app has changed the way we experience and view our own cities, in which our cultures live and our identities evolve.

Jaque, who is primarily an architect has shown an interesting view of Grindr he commented in an interview saying that apps like Grindr “eliminate drama and multiply experience. What people find in hook up apps is not sex but a sense of opulent serendipity, and that is more than a new step in capitalist obsession for urban availability” (Jaque, 2016). While also creating interesting links between the language used on Grindr profiles and how this effects the preceding interactions. Furthermore he states “places like New York or London have been reshaped by [apps like Grindr]”, in the way it has made the whole world a chat room, no longer bound to the isolation of the bedroom. Instead creating a digital sphere within a physical space and vice versa. This interesting account of Grindr, which is largely different to most of the research done on Grindr, as his research uses many personal accounts to show a different more intriguing and personal side of the app. In contrast to the sweeping generalisations that are made my many non-queer researchers on this topic.

Pornified Homes - Andres Jaque (2017) Another video essay by Jaque which illustrates the connections between the stories of; an Amazonian water lily native to Brazil, which was brought to England in 1840’s - and the separate but alarmingly similar stories of Raphael and Bruno; both are London based, young, Brazilian male escorts who utilise online networks and the exoticized view of Latin Americans to their advantage.

Jaque states that “Contemporary architecture occurs in the interaction of digital and physical spaces”. One of the byproducts of this is the growing urbanisation of sex, as before happened with domestic, financial and public spaces.

Which have become a transnational market mediated by socio-technological companies, such as google and facebook. In the same way the transnational pornification of Raphael and Brunos presented selves on sleepyboy.com have become a commodity, of their represented company.

“We might have never been global, we inhabit the way transnational constel-

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lations negotiate their articulation with each other. It might be in the way our skins, texts, whatsapp’s, desires, loved ones, domestic interiors, unfamiliar interactions get together where we can find the urbanism we now live by.”

Jaque proposes that the urban ecosystem of central London has been made up of shady back gardens, and dark basement flats. This is the the urban transnationalism that is not made out of commercial/domestic buildings, roads, and institutional buildings. But rather composed by the way people in positions of a lack of power, are displaced and sexualised by the way their offline existence is pornified by their online personas. Also in the way they pornify their banal daily experiences, and the places in which they take place.

When Men Meet - Henning Bech Bech explores the phenomenology and formulation of modern queerness in depth and although the book does often specifically talk of homosexuality, the encounters which are used as examples are very much queer. Drawing links between voyeuristic queer group sex and the act of spectating sports events, concluding that maybe they are both just as banal and as vulgar as each other.

Bech creates the concept of a telecity, meaning a technologically enabled space, which transcends being a purely physical urban landscape, and in a fixed geographical position. I believe is a useful tool for me to help visualise a space that exists with in the physical and the digital. Which gives way to a being or entity that can oscillate freely between the two realms. Which is what I will argue that happens with apps like Grindr in urban landscapes, with its creation of metaphysical spaces.

Mapping Cyberspace - Martin Dodge & Rob Kitchin Mapping the metaphysical cyberspace of Grindr is something which I will have too look at to understand how the app can be explored as a spacial landscape, furthermore as to how it plays into the physical landscape of reality that it overlays and interacts with. Many different attempts and approaches to mapping cyberspace have been explored.

“Cyberspace is defined as a computer-generated landscape, i.e. the virtual space of a global computer network, linking all people, computers, and sources of various information in the world through which one could navigate. It has become a more and more dominant aspect of our society.”

(Dodge, M. and Kitchin, R. 2001).

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In Mapping Cyberspace Dodge & Kitchen document and explore these topics thoroughly. However this research was taken place more than a decade ago, when the internet was no where near as mobile and infinite as it is today.

This book mainly looks at many different aspects of cyberspace and how it can be visualised or mapped out. From the geographies of information to spatialising cyberspace in imaginative and creative ways. Although this book mainly talks of websites, which are accessed though the means of desktops, this study took place more than a decade ago, Dodge and Kitchen’s means of tackling the space which lays between connected screens is incredibly valuable in visualising media and virtual connections with a creative lens. Which will be helpful to reapply to the virtual world of geosocial apps like Grindr, and the connections that are subsequently made from its use.

The materialisation and physicality of these networked connections is what I will focus on, using this metaphysical space as a realm for queer subjugation.

Realising that these connections that create networks can be realised as real physical spaces, which are intertwined and overlapped with/on to the physical landscapes we have traditionally inhabited for eons. Is it possible to consciously feel these lasting strains of information streams? And do geo-spacial apps allow users to interact with that space.

Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire - Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Although this book was written before even the invention of the internet, let alone geo-social apps. Kosofsky talks of something that I think is very important when dealing with homosexual relationships, and furthermore specifically male and male relationships, encounters and communities.

Kosofsky looks at heterosexual male friendships, to homosexual male relationships, calling all of the encompassing homosocial, while she does largely focus on how these can have massively oppressive effects on women. Kosofsky also points out the intense nature of men’s same-sex bonds - within the realm of homosexual relations - due to the absence of a classic gendered power dissonance. In other words; in the absence or the wake of dismantling a traditional patriarchal relationship what kind of relationship can occur. For which I think is an interesting point to look at, for my research. Why has such a large and strong gay and queer male user base arose though the fruition of an app? Why is there not such a user base for gay and queer females? Or for heterosexuals?

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Proximity awareness and the privatisation of sexual encounters with strangers; The case of Grindr - C. Licoppe, C. A. Rivière & J. Morel Within this paper, Licoppe et.al. has researched how Grindr has changed the daily lives of its users within the city of Paris, speaking to different users about their encounters. Employing the banal daily commute and regular visits as an example, but with the addition of Grindr to ones life they have “become fishing expeditions and the city itself a hunting ground for this new kind of urban wayfarer” (Licoppe, Rivière and More, 2016) adding excitement and uncertainty to mundane activities. But this research will help give me different aspects as to how Grindr has changed the way in which its users encounter the landscapes of cities. Another of the main findings of Licoppe et.al’s research is the way Grindr has allowed for the privatisation of hook up sex, allowing it to be taken from the public sphere of the darkroom or cruising bar, into the private space of the home.

A helpful resource that is also within this paper is the very basic explanation to what Grindr is at face value. As it is easy as a user myself, to forget that Grindr is not an app which most people are familiar with, if they are outside or unknowing about the queer community. So this basic explanation will help pin point my research to others.

To Be a Machine - Mark O’Connell (2017) “It seemed to me that transhumanism was an expression of the profound human longing to transcend the confusion and desire and impotence and sickness of the body, cowering in the darkening shadow of its own decay. This longing had historically been the domain of religion, and was now the increasingly fertile terrain of technology.”

Here is where the obvious link between transhumanism and queerness come together, into a form of their own. O’Connell manages to simplify the desires of transhumanism, and perfectly distills them into a queer terrain. He talks of how transhumanism is a movement concerned with the pushing the limits of our bodies, capabilities, intelligence and lifespans. With the desire that with the aid of technology we could one day become a being that is better than our current selves. For me my interests in transhumanism and queerness are aligning with the passing of this and they are becoming interdependent notions that are almost impossible without the other. Particularly when they are spoken of in this way. So if transhumanism is the movement of pushing the limits of our bodies; and queerness is an identity of which is inherently unattainable and lives on

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the horizon forcing one to push the boundaries of our own identities. Together these ideologies could, and possibly should imbue something into the future?

Cold Intimacies - Eva Illouz (2007) “It is commonly assumed that capitalism has created an a-emotional world dominated by bureaucratic rationality; that economic behavior conflicts with intimate, authentic relationships; that the public and private spheres are irremediably opposed to each other; and that true love is opposed to calculation and self-interest.” (Illouz, 2007) In contrast to Jaque, Illouz solely focuses on heterosexual, romantic, hetero-normative, relationships and encounters. Stating that “I am less interested in sites that have a more explicit sexual orientation, for the simple reason that I am interested in the articulation of technology and emotions.” (Illouz, 2007).

Suggesting that sexual encounters cannot be in anyway emotional, to which I (and many others) would largely dispute. Sex can be, and is intrinsically a very emotional activity. Illouz also makes a large number of other negative generalising statements about online dating apps/websites, with very little being said about them in a positive sense.

However what does interest me in her writing is the links she makes between the sphere of economics and the sphere of the transactional relationship. Framing the search for a partner as a search in a market, and the setting up of profiles as the setting up of a brand. Advertised with selling points, and an attached lifestyle. Transforming the self into a contained product ready to compete with others with in the open-ended market, which is then regulated by the laws of economics, and of supply and demand.

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Grindr, an Overview of its Users and their Usage Grindr is a geo-social app, designed as a gay dating/hookup app. But admittedly it is marketed as something slightly more palatable. It was the first dating app to utilise geolocation in this way, and is now the most used app of its kind within the gay community, worldwide. Its official description: “Over 2 million guys in 196 countries use Grindr every day. Grindr finds guys close to you for chatting and meeting anywhere in the world. Find your perfect guy right now”.

Grindr works as a radar system, using geolocation to show you users which are nearest to you. There is no match or add system, meaning that anyone you see on the grid, you can message.

On the app within your profile there is a section titled “What are you looking for” Giving you options from “chat, dates, friends, networking, relationship, right now(meaning sex, and preferably as soon as possible)”. However this is not an extensive list of how Grindr is utilised by its users. A more extensive list would be along the lines of; Chat Friends Networking Relationship Right now A couple for a third Third for a couple Used clothing Drugs / Dealer Orgy Chemsex Tour guide Party Escorts Neighbourhood watch Bodily Fluids Etc. Etc. Etc… However due to the lack of such options the “description” section, each profile usually showcases what people are really looking for as a short bio, similar to that of instagram or twitter. Grindr does have some guidelines for what can be shown on a users profile. Within their profile guidelines it stipulates that their is no usage or mention of drugs/weapons, as well as no nudity. It also asks that

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users do not promote unsafe sex. Although should a user violate the profile guidelines, there is very little policing done by Grindr “officials”. Peer user reporting is also not common practice.

However photos are screened by AI technology, and many buzzwords being automatically flagged usually resulting in the users profile being suspended, this has lead to a new language of symbols coming to fruition to avoid this.

For example, A profile featuring; • The diamond emoji signifies a profile of an escort, sex worker, or an individual whose services and time can be bought - whatever they may be.

• Variants of many different acronyms constitute to the seeking, or possession of drugs such as; CTGM meaning Cocaine, Tina (crystal methamphetamine), GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), MDMA (ecstasy/methylenedioxymethamphetamine).

• “Clean/healthy” in reference to their sexual health status, often in specific reference to their HIV status.

• “masc for masc” represents a person self-defining as masculine, who is attracted and interested in the same.

These symbols within profiles allow for easy recognition of whether two individuals are looking for the same thing, or if they are of use or service to one another. All without an actual exchange happening, which is somewhat crucial as Grindr has no “matching/filter” system similar to apps like Tinder or Chappy.

This adopted language has left Grindr’s users to mostly operate within a free, user operated market. With its users having almost complete agency over how they manoeuvre within their self given position inside this emporium of possibilities. Furthermore, Grindr itself has no curatorial agency over its users order within the grid, as each users position within the grid depends purely on their profile being active and their geographical position to other users. This makes every user a temporal and spacial node within Grindr’s decentralised network.

Each node ever changing and oscillating within the web of nodes, which in turn changes the ordering of the grid. In the way that Grindr is used in the decentralised network which it creates, with each interpersonal connection it makes.

Strings of overlapping data transfers connecting users which are geographically close, and deleting any geographical distance which may be betwixt them.

The connections which are made within this technology shouldn’t be taken lightly.

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Decentralised Network Diagram.

Baran, P. (1962).

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Discourse on the Grid Here I find it an appropriate moment to talk of some of the social discourse that takes place within the modern gay and queer community, which is evidently displayed through out many profiles on Grindr.

As just briefly mentioned when talking of the language used on Grindr, I gave an example of the words “clean” and “healthy” being used to refer to ones sexual health status, often in specific reference to their HIV status. On Grindr and within the gay community in general, there can still be very hostile and outdated attitudes expressed towards HIV and those who are HIV+. The use of the word “clean” or “healthy” when referring to ones sexual health, insinuates that there is something negatively dirty about HIV. Also suggesting that a person who is HIV+ cannot be healthy, which with modern medicine is not the case. The misuse of this language perpetuates ignorance when it comes to HIV, and doesn’t help to break the stigma created around the virus during the HIV epidemic.

Although stigma and discourse is not a main focus of this dissertation I find it important to note, when talking on the socio-sexual of queer and gay lives. For more in depth studies on HIV stigma see; Policing Desire: Pornography, AIDS, and the Media by Watney, S. (1997), HIV-related stigma within communities of gay men by Smit et al., (2011), Breaking Boundaries by Van De Wiele, C. and Tong, S. (2014), and the film Blue by Derek Jarman (1993).

As well as this there are many phrases used on Grindr, to filter people based on their race. The term “no fats, no fems and no asians”, had a moment of popularity across the UK and the US. In layman’s terms, this meant “do not message me if you are fat, feminine or asian”. This was often followed by the justification that it was just a sexual preference, and the user simply doesn’t find those who fell into these categories attractive. Somehow suggesting that they cannot be blamed for their preferences, and are accused for their body shaming, queerphobic, misogynistic, colourist and racist attitudes. For more in depth studies on racial discourse within the gay community see; They Don’t Want To Cruise Your Type: Gay Men of Color and the Racial Politics of Exclusion by Chong-suk Han (2007), and Grindring bodies: Racial and affective economics of online queer desire by Senthorun Raj (2011)

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The Subversion of Grindr

Grindr Warning (Grindrmap.neocities.org, 2018)

Grindr Warning (Grindrmap.neocities.org, 2018)

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The information which can be shared with these connections and how it can be used is not limited to a purely sexual nature. One example of this is evidenced in Egypt; where being gay is not “illegal” under Egyptian law, although homosexual acts are seen as illegal particularly in public, and many have been convicted for breeching laws on public indecency or promoting sexual deviancy. This is where Grindr has been used as a tool for persecution, to hunt down and capture gay men. This has been done by either using trilateration to pinpoint the unknowing users or situations where government “officials” are posing as gay men on Grindr, in a bid to coerce genuine users into compromising situations leading to them being charged with “debauchery” (Payton, M. 2018), with their private conversations being used as evidence against them. Leading to anything from six months to six years in prison, where they are often subject to torture. (Miksche, M, 2018).

Grindr has attempted to react to acts of oppression similar to this, by using the app to send push notifications to users in the affected areas or even countries.

Grindr has also previously suggested to users to disable the distance feature in said counties. (grindrmap.neocities.org, 2018). While Grindr makes these recommendation to its users the users of Grindr act as agents of their own accord, using the data networks to their own advantage or personal interest. Each of these agents represented by a square in a grid - a market stall on a street abundant with competitors. Each marketed with their different sub-communities in mind. Whilst Grindr may have a misleading representation that it is an app with a singular purpose, that being of a sexual nature. However this technology can be, and is utilised in many different ways.

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Urbanisation In the Time of Grindr In the time of Grindr, London has seen a large increase in the popularity of chemsex within the gay community. Although sex and drugs have a history of having an involvement in one another, particularly in gay communities within metropolis cities. It has been said by participants within studies on chemsex, that geo-spacial apps, like Grindr, have contributed to the further normalisation of chemsex within gay communities. Which was attributed to the fact that geo-social apps have made drug use more visible than it maybe once was. As well as this, geo-spacial apps have been accredited to the facilitating the distribution and/or acquisition of drugs and the involvement of chemsex (Bourne et al., 2014). Which is most likely due to the un-policed metaphysical space of Grindr. Meaning illegal and illicit activities which were previously limited to take place under the cover of night within the shady back streets and alleys of cities like London, to only be participated in by the ones who were “brave” enough.

Grindr’s allowance for anonymity has meant that more people are made aware of such practices, it’s users are influenced and uninhibited by the way the app enables cyber courage, through the visible normalisation of such activities (Chemsex, 2015).

On the topic of anonymity, when signing up for the app Grindr does not enforce or stipulate the need for a profile picture. Nor a username, verified email, statistics, age or any other details. Meaning it is not only very quick and uncomplicated to not only set up a profile but equally as easy to remain completely anonymous. Which allows for anyone to set up a profile; be they an underaged teenager or a closeted “hetroflexible” married man. This contrasts to apps like Tinder, which forcefully encourages users to fill out their profile by linking the users profile to their Facebook page. The anonymity which Grindr allows, means users who are not at liberty to explore their sexuality or queerness - due to oppressive environments - can interact with the community surrounding them in a discreet way.

The app has become an extension of the senses. It could be said that technologies like gaydars have evolved to become intelligent pieces of technology, which help it’s users know more about the landscape they inhabit. Allowing it to become a new transhuman sense which can act as portal to unlock urban metaphysical landscapes, in new ways that are not other wise possible. This metaphysical landscape could be used as a space for uninhibited queer identities. As it enables a queer metaphysical space to exist within a hetero-normative world.

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Anecdotes From Those Who Navigate The Space “There are many definitions of cyberspace. According to one of them it is a virtual space created by global computer networks connecting people, computers and documents in the entire world and creating space that we can move in.”

(Dodge, M. and Kitchin, R. 2001).

With Grindrs creation it has forged a new dimension which has allowed for non sexualised urban spaces to be transformed into new sexual territories. A queer room within a straight establishment. These quotes are from interviews which I conducted with users of Grindr. Two of these took face to face, the others through the app itself. They are all from different backgrounds of origin, but based in London at the time of speaking. In total I have spoken to more than 20 users in Grindr in depth about their usage, and countless more in passing while researching this project.

The Non-Sexual Non-Space “I use Grindr in different ways depending on where I am, or what I’m doing. So if I’m at work, I usually use it to just pass the time and chat with people, I have met a few good friends through using it. But if I’m horny on a night out, or just at home, I’ll use it to get a fuck. So I change my profile depending on what I’m looking for; so a picture of my abs, and some tagline like “looking to fuck now” to make it really obvious what I’m looking for. Or for “safe for working” use I’ll put up some kinda facebook-like photo, and my name or something witty as my tagline.

Its obvious to say but when you’re open with what you want on Grindr, its easy to get it. As long as you have some “basic” requirements… I mean its super shallow but things like; you gotta be the right age for some people, or if you wanna fuck someone with abs, you probably gotta have abs. Or some people are into chems [drugs], some people ain’t. It kinda goes without saying. You gotta be in the right “group/category” for most people. Like I wanted to fuck hot muscular guys with abs - so I had to get abs. I didn’t get abs for myself to look at.”

Jay - age 25 (name changed to remain anonymous) The way in which Jay utilises also goes to show that Grindr is not a one-useonly app, it’s uses can go beyond a solely sexual nature. Whats more is that the users can switch between those uses, by altering the signifiers and signs of what they display on their profile. Moving their position within the market to new audiences of users.

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Similar to how Jaque (2017b) describes the way in which apps like Grindr can “Pornify” the users experiences with a space. Jay turns an unwanted venture to his advantage. What sounds like the fantasy script writing of mainstream gay porn, becomes reality. The way in which the user markets or presents themselves within the app can result in said required outcomes. As aforementioned; Grindr is an open market, with its users being the product in which are being traded for experiences (or goods in some cases, of actual buying or selling - for example drug dealing). This is not to necessarily say that a financial transaction has taken place, but a sexual or emotional encounter can be seen as a transaction in this case. Pornifiying the profile of the user changes the signifiers for what category of product the user is interested in trading in.

What Jay says about “I wanted to fuck hot muscular guys with abs so I had to get abs. I didn’t get abs for myself to look at”, is an interesting way to look at the way experiences that take place within the space of Grindr can literally physically manifest themselves. Whats more is the way our actions within the physical world can effect the metaphysical space of Grindr. Jay wanted to attract a certain type of guy. To do this he had to move his market stall within Grindr, although he couldn’t do this just by rebranding his profile to win over his desired audience. He had to change something, within the tangible physical world, to affect this change. He effectively rebranded himself physically outside of Grindr, to in turn do so within the app. A chain of causes and effects moving from metaphysical to physical back to metaphysical, and so on. All resulting in manifestations within each space; in the physical world Jay now has abs, a tangible outcome. Within Grindr he now has a new market stall where he receives contact from a new demographic. This contact eventually results in new physical and emotional experiences.

CUM-muting “Grindr has lead me to have hookups in some of the least sexual places you could probably imagine. I mean theres obviously the usual, or at least very common ones of; toilets in shopping centres, and a lot of toilets in a lot of different public places. But also a Marks and Spencers changing room, a tattoo studio, my office, a pub after closing hours (with the landlord no less), my doctors office. I could go on but you get the point, I’ve fucked in a lot of places. I think Grindr just allows people to do more of what they want to do, in places which don’t usually facilitate that kind of sexual behaviour. Plus it’s always there, so even when you’re not looking for a meet up people can still hit you up.”

Krish - Age 39 (name changed to remain anonymous)

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Due to Grindr always being with its user - through the vehicle of the smartphone, and constantly “on”. Users are free to live their daily lives, and are still available to connect with other users at any given moment. So connecting and chatting with other users can take place wherever/whenever - for example while commuting. This can have two influences:

1) It sexualises any banal activity (or place), which is taking place when interrupted by contact from another available user. Should a quick encounter be initiated.

2) It creates a lasting mode of communication through which future plans can be organised at a later date. As the profile can be later messaged after initial contact has been made (not effected by changing location).

Although the daily commute may be a monotonous byproduct of urban living, where the place of work and the place of recreation being geographically separated (Ingold 2011). It offers new opportunities when an apps state is affected by changing locations, and the other users which exist in said locations.

The lasting modes of connections which are made whist traveling grant for the meshwork in which Grindrs users can reach further and deeper through the metaphysical urban landscapes they subjugate, resulting in increased opportunities for unanticipated experiences. This act of travelling is now it’s own physical inhabited space for opportunity.

“Being queer is equated with the cultural experience of urban life”(Houlbrook, 2006)

Foolproof Gaydar “I don’t really chat with that many people on Grindr, I mostly just find it useful to workout who’s queer and looking in the area. I basically use it as a foolproof gaydar. So should I then see them in person or cross paths with them, I know its somewhat “safe” to make a pass at them, without fear of getting the shit beaten out of me for mistaking someone as a fag. Especially in non gay spaces, like cafés, galleries or just about any public space. Fair enough we have gay and queer bars, but maybe I don’t always want to meet someone while I’m drunk or high - not that I’m completely opposed to it - Its just nice to have options. Also many gay bars are not the most inclusive places believe it or not - so sometimes Grindr for me is just kind of an extension of finding queers within a gay space.

Although using it in this way I have discovered some people on it I didn’t expect The app does occasionally refresh location while open in the back ground, however this is not guaranteed so keeping the app open is required for continued use.

1

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to though. Like my teachers, doctors, closeted family members, colleagues.

People you don’t really think of, or encounter in a sexual way, but when you see them on the app you can’t help but think of them in that way” Remi - Age 22 (name changed to remain anonymous) For Remi Grindr provides a time and location specific queer data resource, for when he is within non gay or queer specific/safe spaces. Which can not only be useful within urban environment, but also that of rural environments outside of cities, which contain a lower concentration of possible companions (be they sexual or not), where queer spaces may not even be found with the local landscape, or where attitudes are more prejudicial. Meaning it may out of the question - or unsafe - to approach, a person of interest. Grindr provides a safeguarding system, which can help reduce certain risks and threats, which arise though the navigation of non-queer spaces. Historically gay slang would be used as a sociolinguistic tool for queers/gays to identify one another, while to remain unknown or unnoticed to those outside of the queer/gay community, to evade the repercussions of homophobic attitudes (Blotcher 1997). Instead now Grindr serves as a posthuman technological extension of the senses, which provides aid as a tool of subjugating the queering of public spaces.

Privatisation of Public Sex, Maximising Pleasure “I used to be into cruising and cottaging back before Grindr was about, but that was mainly because I didn’t really have a choice. While I like the spontaneity of cottaging in theory, in reality I am more into longer sessions, where I’m not having to be careful in my surroundings. And with of cruising, you’re not always guaranteed to find a fuck. So I mainly use Grindr from home, where I can still get instantaneous fun that I need while getting rid of the hassle - all in the comfort of my own home. Where I can fuck as loud as I want for as long as I want. My own home is my new personal version of what Hampstead Heath used to be guys coming and going all weekend. The best part is I choose who gets in, I’m in control.”

Boe - Age 44 (name changed to remain anonymous) The meeting of sexual partners has always been met with some issues for queer people within the open landscape of the hetero-normative world. Meaning that sexual practices have often been forced into a more deviant nature, and sometimes even illegality (Humphreys, 1970). While some may enjoy the process and practices of public cruising or cottaging, others may not - due to the sometimes uncomfortable nature of these environments (i.e. cold and/or wet).

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Furthermore these known potential meeting points which are made common knowledge through word of mouth may not exist in accessible places in every local neighbourhood. Grindr helps eliminate these complications by allowing for the personal privatisation of urban sexual activities, through the relocation of the previously public pursuit to a solely private endeavour.

Furthermore Grindr has reduced the need for geographical demarcation when it comes to sexual specialisation, as this specialisation can be found by checking who is nearby on the app. Although with the use of the app specificity shifted from urban organisation to the way in which its users are required to market and categorise themselves within Grindr’s trade centre. (Jaque, 2016b). In this same way Grindr has also replaced physical cruising spaces like darkrooms.

There have been a reduction in darkrooms across many gay metropolises, like London, Barcelona, New York and San Fransisco (Blotcher, 1997 & Jaque, 2017a). Grindr has changed the way we meet, connect and select our chosen encounters. Turning the physical space of the dark room into a public domain, although a non-physical space.

As Boe highlighted that cruising and cottaging spots require time and luck, as they rely on working through the population of other individuals seeking. Satisfaction is not guaranteed and effort is required to gain desired results. Again Grindr’s 24 hour always open free market helps to reduce the space between users, the effort/distance required to meet. Whilst maximising availability, opportunity and choices to meet one another. Reduced effort, maximised pleasure. “[Grindr helps to] eliminate drama and multiply experience. What people find in hook up apps is not sex but a sense of opulent serendipity, and that is more than a new step in capitalist obsession for urban availability” (Jaque, 2016b)

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Grindrs Exxxtension of the Body Surrounded by hundreds of connections, isolated in the network.

Amounting to data transfers, intimate relations and fleeting moments.

The networks enabling queer behaviour, but it’s users stagnating with one use.

Intimacy is no longer concerned with transactional meetings within boardrooms.

But when the transaction is a fuck, and the boardroom is a bed with 6 bois on.

Love was never concerned in the first instance.

But take it further and what will it become?

Bodies will serve no purpose, and brains will merge.

Queer identities will flourish, and individuals will die.

Queer primordial soup.

The undefined space, which we never knew existed until we knew ‘this and that’ were separated things. But when futurity has its roots based in technology, and technology intertwines our lives with the need for capital, packaged to “make our lives more liveable and easy”. This pushes us back out from the metaphysical space of queerness. Homogenised into a life which is easy to market too, a hetero-normative, whitewashed, binary. “Where Steve Jobs is the smiling (white, heterosexual, capitalist) face behind a company that “thinks different.”… A life where possibilities and decisions are made by a hetero-normative elite before the queer user ever turns the computer on” (Blas, 2017). The uniformed tech product, which we as queers interact with Grindr through may be designed as a “one-size-fits-all” attitude, and the same can be said for the way Grindr is designed as a user interface. However this has not stopped the subversion of these technologies to fit different users needs, be they subjectively “good or bad”, sexual or non-sexual, genuine or insincere.

Through all of its different uses which we have explored, it can be said that geo-spacial apps like Grindr allow for new concepts on the relationship between users, their multiple selves and the urban environments in which they inhabit. Along with the physicality of the human body - the use of apps like Grindr shows that bodies can exist in multiple, trans-material forms. The users profile is an extension of the body, it extends through these technologies and into the metaphysical spaces which they create. Locking into a feedback loop, in the way that the users profile interacts with the other users, in turn effecting our own body. Whether this be in the ways that we interact with the architecture of our urban landscapes, or in the way we select our sexual/romantic partners or simply those who we choose to surround ourselves with. The human body and its environment becomes conformed by the management of their online profile, which has taken on its own identity within a new sphere of physicality. As well as

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this the profile is not limited to the laws of physics, or to the 3 dimensions which we can comprehend.

To frame the representation of the online persona, as an entity of its own being, which exists within a metaphysical realm enabled by technology - may seem like the ideas of science fiction. Which it partially is, although it could be said that Grindr has seen the very basic beginnings of how this as an ideology, has already, and can further alter the way in which we command the space of our urban environments, and choose to inhabit them with our bodies. The simplest underpinning of this however, is that Grindr’s interface has allowed for alternative ontologies of existence, of space and identities.

An Internet tree (Cheswick, 2018) featured in Mapping Cyberspace (Dodge, M. and Kitchin, R. 2001).

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Alternative Ontologies of Existence “The boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion.

Contemporary science fiction is full of cyborgs - creatures simultaneously animal and machine, who populate worlds ambiguously natural and crafted” (Haraway, 1991) Where transhumanism is the movement which sees pushing the limits of our bodies, into a posthuman form with the aid of technology; and where queerness is an identity inherently unattainable and lives on the horizon forcing one to push the boundaries of their own identities (Muñoz, 2009). Together I have argued that these ideologies imbue something into the future of identities, and the landscapes which we inhabit. Grindr has been the technology which has aided the creation of a new metaphysical landscape, in which new types of bodies have formed. For with these bodies, new identities can be formed.

Haraway used the cyborg as a vehicle to explore new forms of identity, to release the old ones from the limitations of the fragile human body. Here I envisage that the new metaphysical landscapes and trans-material bodies, can be a place and a vehicle for new queer identities to flourish. It has already aided some as a tool to navigate urban landscapes, through the time which sees the normalisation of gay behaviours (Warner, 1999). Normalisation and queerness do not cohere. Grindr may be mainly populated by by cis-gendered, non-queer males, which often use blindly discriminatory language on the app. However, these users are usually not the ones who are utilising the cyberspace of Grindr, as a tool for alternative ontologies of existence. These users are using it as the “hetero-normative elite” designed it to be used - which is what Blas describes with the mainstream use of technology. Technology needs to be enabled, or construed in a particular way to be queerised in its operation. Put another way; Grindr is not inherently queer, it doesn’t push the normative ideals. It is the users which must subjugate the cyberspace of Grindr, to queer the technology and affect queerness into the urban landscapes they encounter.

Here to succinctly describe the concept which I envisage, I will say this as a very personal note, with academic context aside; As a queer person, I feel limited and contained by the organic vehicle that is my body. I am restrained by the limitations of my skin, which are bound by the physics of this reality. It feels as if no item of clothing, plastic surgery, body modification, or hairstyle; will allow for the exploration of my true sense of self. The space in which a human body can morph is not enough. The space of a metaphysical realm beyond our tangible dimensions, could allow for a new way of existing.

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To be released from the limitations of the physical and tangible bodies which we exist in, we as beings must adopt new technologies to access new spaces, be they physical, metaphysical, or cyber. Within these new found spaces, which are not limited to the laws of physics, perceivable dimensions and reality - we as beings can adopt new structures of existence. Our new physicality can endlessly change and exist to portray internal ideas of identities.

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Future Fuckers The digital architecture of Grindr has effected the way, in which we experience and navigate the cities in which we live. It has done so in many different ways for different users. From the privatisation of public sex, to the subjugation of non-queer spaces. But what it has undoubtably done for many, is allowing the access to a new layer of the urban landscape. The metaphysical realm where the digital and the physical cause and effect each other continuously, to form a new space. This space has given way to new forms of communication which permit our consuming passion for the maximisation of our time, the quantity of our connections, and our availability to others.

Grindr has created an example of a metaphysical landscape. A cyberspace which has overlapped and interlocked with the physical space of our cities.

While the online bodies of users, can exist as a separated extension of the human body, within a metaphysical space. This is a foetal example of existing as a multiple-bodied-transhumanistic being. A technologically enabled being, which exists simultaneously across different temporal and geographical physicality’s of space and cyberspace.

I would like to speculate that with the proliferation of technology, and the integration of future bio-tech. We will in the near future be able to see, feel and interact directly with the metaphysical realms of our environments. These environments could be a space for queer identities to thrive and flourish, away from the socially imposed gender signifiers. A new realm with the potentiality for unlimited queerness in ones identity.

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Boi The term boi has a few different meanings within the LGBT/Queer community.

However here I am using the term in reference to its use as a queer variant spelling of boy, in the 1990s as an online screen name. Which was often used to identify younger gay males online. But more than this I want it in this use to represent a young queer person.

Chemsex The use of drugs to enhance sex, often resulting in uninhibited feelings towards sexual health or certain risky behaviours. Typically involving, Tina (crystal methamphetamine), GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), MDMA (ecstasy/methylenedi oxymethamphetamine), ketamine and cocaine. (Bourne et al., 2014) Cottaging Gay slang referring to anonymous gay sex taking place within public places. This term specifically comes from referencing the cottage-like public toilets which used to be very common in public parks throughout the UK. Cruising Perusing usually on foot (sometimes driving) through an area, with the intention of finding a sexual partner, usually with the intention of having sex elsewhere.

Darkroom Also known as a backroom or a blackroom An dimly lit area, room or series of rooms - often found within night clubs or sex clubs - where sexual activities are permitted to take place.

Gay Within this essay when using the term gay, I am referring too homosexuals.

Where it may seem that the terms gay and queer are interchangeable, however, they are not. Queer is a personal identity, which doesn’t dictate sexuality - although a large population of those who identify as queer are LGBTQ+. Furthermore the culture and communities of these demographics do some what over lap and intertwine.

Gaydars The innate ability of queers to be aware and to identify one another though the social signals and signifiers. With the aid of technology applications enable this skill of identification to a high perfection, as well as the ability to locate.

Geo-social

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A form of social networking or social media which uses geographic services, such as geolocation, geotagging and geocoding as a function, to enable additional social functionality within a spacial framing.

Grid In reference to the grid on Grindr which displays the profiles of the users near you. Listing them in order form nearest to furthest away. Also used in reference to a data structure or a matrix of information.

Hetroflexible An individual which predominantly sexually identifies with being heterosexual, although sometimes incidentally engaging in homosexual behaviour.

Infosphere A contraction of the words information and sphere. Referring to an environment which is created by electronic communication and networking as a complete entity.

Metaphysical The space which is transcends the physical dimensions in which we operate as beings.

Queer “Queerness is not here yet. Queerness is an identity. Put another way, we are not yet queer. We may never touch queerness, but we can feel it as the warm illumination of a horizon imbued with potentiality. We have never been queer, yet queerness exists for us as an identity that can be distilled from the past and used to imagine a future. The future is queerness’s domain” Muñoz, J. (2009).

Trans-material The existence across different platforms of materiality. In this case the physical and the digital metaphysical landscape of Grindr.

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Baran, P. (1962). Baran Network Diagram. [image].

Bech, H. (1997). When men meet. Cambridge [u.a.]: Polity Press.

The Danish sociologist Henning BECH describes in his excellent study from 1997 the formation and phenomenology of a “homosexual form of existence”. In the late 19th century “homosexuals” were the avant-garde of a modern, urban way of life. Nowadays this type of lifestyle is not typical just for “homosexuals” but it concerns both the “homosexuals” and “heterosexuals” alike: the social “gender conflict” has evolved under the conditions of the “Telecities” into a “gender game” by which men and women express themselves through their “cultural wardrobes”. We find sexuality in the center of this game as it seems to be the only remaining way to experience “being a man or a woman”.

Belloc, H. (1967). On. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press.

Blas, Z. (2012). Queer Technologies Zach Blas. [online] Zach Blas. Available at: http://www.zachblas.info/works/ queer-technologies/ [Accessed 19 Oct. 2017].

Queer Technologies is an organization that produces critical applications, tools, and situations for queer technological agency, interventions, and sociality.

By re-imaging a technology designed for queer use, Queer Technologies critiques the heteronormative, capitalist, militarized underpinnings of technological architectures, design, and functionality.

Technology binds life to the rhetoric of militaristic desire and corporate capital: technology is here to make our lives better for the greater good of society and to protect us from everything bad. Technological standards box us into a life capital wants us live. A life of hyper-consumption predicated on the need for always newer technologies. A life of heteronormative networked power, where Steve Jobs is the smiling (white, heterosexual, capitalist) face behind a company that “thinks different.” A life of imported family photos and children’s 1st birthday parties (literally, iLife).

Importantly, a life where possibilities and decisions are made by a heteronormative elite before the queer user ever turns the computer on. Nothing on the computer is ever user-friendly.

Blotcher, J. (1997). Policing public sex.

Boston: South End, Part 1 - Public Sex. Blue. (1993). [DVD] Directed by D. Jar-

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man. United Kingdom: Zeitgeist Films.

Bourne, A., Reid, D., Hickson, F., Torres Rueda, S. and Weatherburn, P. (2014).

The Chemsex drug use in sexual settings among Study: gay and bisexual men in Lambeth, Southwark & Lewisham. London: Sigma Research, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Chemsex. (2015). [DVD] Directed by W. Fairman and M. Gogarty. London: Peccadillo Pictures.

Cheswick, W. (2018). Internet Mapping Project: Map gallery. [online] Cheswick. com. Available at: http://www.cheswick. com/ches/map/gallery/index.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2017].

Daly, M. (2017). The Inside Story of London's Chemsex Scene. Vice. [online] Available at: https://www.vice.com/en_uk/ article/9k533v/the-inside-story-of-londons-chemsex-scene [Accessed 14 Dec. 2017].

Dodge, M. and Kitchin, R. (2001). Mapping cyberspace. London: Routledge.

Grindr. Chat, G. and LLC, G. (2017).

Grindr - Gay chat on the App Store. [online] App Store. Available at: https:// itunes.apple.com/us/app/grindr-gay-chat/ id319881193?mt=8 [Accessed 10 Oct. 2017].

Grindr is the world’s #1 FREE mobile social networking app for gay and bi guys to connect. Chat and meet sexy, attractive and interesting guys for free, or upgrade to Grindr XTRA for more features and more fun.

Grindr has someone for everyone: queer, discreet, anonymous, twink, geek, daddy, leather, military, rugged, bear, otter, guy next door, college, muscle, bisexual, trans. No matter what you’re looking for: relationship, friends, play, dates, love… you can find it here!

So whether you’re a versatile twink looking for a queer geek or a discreet leather daddy looking for a

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date with an otter, the perfect match is waiting for you on Grindr. What are you waiting for?

Grindrmap.neocities.org. (2018). GrindrMap. [online] Available at: https://grindrmap.neocities.org [Accessed 10 dec.

2018].

Haraway, D. (1991). Simians, Cyborgs, and women. New York, NY [u.a.]: Routledge.

Hopkins, J. (2017). abhominal. [online] abhominal. Available at: http://abhominal. com [Accessed 9 Oct. 2017].

Houlbrook, M. (2006). Queer London.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Humphreys, L. (1970). Tearoom Trade.

Impersonal sex in public places. New Brunswick, Transaction.

Illouz, E. (2007). Cold intimacies. Cambridge: Polity.

Grindr is the world’s #1 FREE mobile social networking app for gay and bi guys to connect. Chat and meet sexy, attractive and interesting guys for free, or upgrade to Grindr XTRA for more features and more fun.

Grindr has someone for everyone: queer, discreet, anonymous, twink, geek, daddy, leather, military, rugged, bear, otter, guy next door, college, muscle, bisexual, trans. No matter what you’re looking for: relationship, friends, play, dates, love… you can find it here!

So whether you’re a versatile twink looking for a queer geek or a discreet leather daddy looking for a date with an otter, the perfect match is waiting for you on Grindr. What are you waiting for?

Ingold, T. (2011). Being Alive. Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description.

London, Routledge.

Jaque, A. (2017a). Arquitectura Sexualizante (Sexualizing Architecture). Interview Conducted by Pol Esteve at CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona). [01/03/17] “The app gives rise to other notions of bodies and humans; The preformation of human body through apps

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like Grindr is that bodies are multiple and trans-material. The profile is an extension of the body, it extends through these technologies in a feedback loop because the way the profile interacts with other users affects our body in a direct way, an evident for example it conditions the routine or the exorcises people do in the gym, and the body ends up being conformed by the online management that is made of their online profile.”

Jaque, A. (2017b). Pornified Homes. [video] Available at: https://www.nowness. com/story/pornified-homes-brazilianmale-escorts-andres-jaque [Accessed 27 Nov. 2017].

“Central London is so many times narrated as the hub of the globalised post states oriented government.

Which contains an eco system of shady back-back yards, and downrated basement apartments. This is the transnational urbanism that is not but out of blocks, roads and institutional buildings but rather composed of the way humans bereft of economic power. are displaced and and sexualised by the way their off line existence is pornified through online projection. Colonial creation of a geography of centre and periphery, might now be replaced by a layered coexistence. In which the architecture of properness, the one that accommodates law firms, wealthy residences and corporate head quarters, contains a secluded and sexualised back year archilecture of otherness. We might have never been global, we inhabit the way transnational constellations negotiate their articulation with each other. It might be in the way our skins, texts, whatsapp’s, desires, loved ones, domestic interiors, unfamiliar interactions get together where we can find the urbanism we now live by.”

Jaques, A. (2016a). ANDRÉS JAQUE, SEX APPS, AND INTIMATE STRANGERS - A CANDID INTERVIEW. Conducted by Jake Charles Rees. Available at: http:// www.run-riot.com/articles/blogs/andrésjaque-sex-apps-and-intimate-strangerscandid-interview [Accessed 4 Jun. 2017].

Jaques, A. (2016b). Intimate Strangers.

[Video] London: Design Museum.

A video Installation which studies the evolution of Grindr, and its users. But in more depth explores the way geolocation apps have forged a network culture which is defining and designing new ways of interacting and behaving. It shows a series of stories on how the app has changed the way we experience and view our own cities, in which our cultures live and our identities evolve.

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Kaiser, C. (1997). The gay metropolis, 1940-1996. San Diego: Harcourt Brace.

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However I question does this thrill not wear off? But this research will help give me different aspects as to how Grindr has changed the landscapes of cities for its users.

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