SENTIENT CLIT:
THE PUSSIFICATION OF BIOTECH

2023

WhiteFeather Hunter and Jiabao Li

Sentient Clit: The Pussification of Biotech investigates the potential of lab-grown clitorises created through 3D bioprinting using stem cells derived from menstrual fluid. The project challenges male-dominated narratives in technological and scientific spaces, advancing a feminist, non-binary methodology centred on pleasure and eroticism beyond reproductive function. The project is realized through an integration of laboratory research, bioprinted forms, photography, video, neon, inflatables, gen AI imagery, and digital platforms.

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WhiteFeather conducted the core experimental and technical development of the work, including menstrual stem cell culture and purification, neuronal induction, stop-motion animation from live cell imaging of menstrual cells in culture, microscopy of differentiated cellular structures generated through these experiments, and bioprinting processes that define the project’s biological and conceptual framework. She also generated AI prototypes through DALLE2.

Jiabao Li contributed to the project through the production of the Sentient Clit video work, its online dissemination via OnlyFans, neon signage, generative AI imagery through Midjourney, 3D-printed resin prototypes, and the production of an inflatable clitoris-in-a-dish pool (collaboratively designed and co-funded by WhiteFeather Hunter). The project was presented at the Duende Art Museum, China, as part of a collection of collaborative and solo works in Progenitorial Hysteresis by Jiabao Li. The work has also been featured at multiple events, including Sexplorations at the Exploratorium, San Francisco, was highlighted in a TEDx Austin talk by Li, and is part of a forthcoming exhibition by Jiabao Li at tiat place, San Francisco.

The work engages the ethical and conceptual implications of bioprinted organs capable of neural response, questioning established notions of consent, sentience, and bodily autonomy in bioengineering. Through its use of digital platforms, the project strategically intervenes in economies of visibility and consumption, addressing biocapitalism and the regulation of sexual and technological narratives. Sentient Clit calls for a re-evaluation of biotechnological advancement in its cultural, ethical, and societal dimensions, proposing alternative frameworks for scientific inquiry grounded in feminist epistemologies and embodied knowledge.

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The project was generously supported by research-creation grants awarded to WhiteFeather Hunter by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec. It received a jury nomination for the 2024 Ars Electronica S+T+ARTS Prize, and has been broadly disseminated in co-authored peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, podcast interviews, and global news articles.

WhiteFeather Hunter’s lab research for the project was conducted across multiple institutional settings including the Gulbenkian Institute of Molecular Medicine (with Cultivamos Cultura), The University of Western Australia (with SymbioticA and the Central Nervous System Repair Lab), and an additional Canadian hospital research centre (anonymous due to non-disclosure conditions).

Initial contributions to Jiabao Li's lab work by Lera Neimackl. Videographer for parts of Sentient Clit video featuring Jiabao Li: Teresa May Nichta, edited by Jiabao Li. Segments of Sentient Clit video featuring WhiteFeather produced by WhiteFeather.

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Publications: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3686169.3686201 and

https://www.isea-symposium-archives.org/presentation/auto-draft-130/

See also more information and exhibition images at https://www.jiabaoli.org/sentient-clit