Casting Couch 1 - SirBub (Che)-2024-04-07_12-22-20 is a video art piece that uses the prolific porn video genre of the same name as an apparatus to explore themes of identity, intimacy and sex. The porn videos usually consist of a director who, from behind the camera, interviews a, usually, young and inexperienced prospective porn star; with the interview ending in a sex scene between the two. I was interested in the power dynamics on display in these videos through: the camera as an oppressive force; the sexual questions the director asks the star; and the fact that the star must have sex with the director to get the ‘job’. In response to this, I made a work that is aesthetically similar but involves asking questions about the porn star that are personal and mostly nonsexual. The questions encourage a sense of vulnerability and intimacy that is never established in the traditional videos, in an attempt to subvert their impersonal and hypersexual nature. The ‘casting couch’ video model is further inverted through SirBub (Che), a working pornstar and artist, being the star: and myself, an artist who has no connection to the porn industry, being the director. The director being the one in an unfamiliar environment creates a shift in power that destablises the initial allure that these videos create. Lastly, the director and star never engage in sex, but only rich conversation; the hour long video therefore acting as a severe tease.