Credit: Somerset House Studios

Somerset House Studios Unveils Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy 2025: A Deep Dive into Tech, Desire, and the Future of Intimacy

Somerset House Studios is back with Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy, a boundary-pushing event series tackling the complex intersections of technology, intimacy, and desire. Running from 28th January to 1st February 2025, this year’s programme is driven by Sidsel Meineche Hansen’s new digital artwork, Grumpy—a provocative exploration of automation and arousal.

If you’re curious about how AI, virtual worlds, and evolving cultural landscapes are reshaping relationships, this is the space to be. Expect performances, screenings, and discussions that challenge conventional perspectives, featuring some of the most radical and innovative minds in art, philosophy, and digital culture.

Somerset House Studios Pushes the Boundaries of Desire and AI

This year’s Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy focuses on how virtual spaces have redefined human intimacy, from the rise of AI relationships to the impact of automation on desire. As the digital world continues to evolve, so do the ways we experience love, pleasure, and identity.

Leading the charge is Danish artist Sidsel Meineche Hansen, whose latest work, Grumpy, provides the conceptual framework for the entire series. Premiering at Somerset House’s online platform, Channel, the piece weaves CGI animation, melodic voice recordings, and ceroplastic (an 18th-century wax-modelling technique) to expose the eerie connection between historical anatomical studies and the modern production of silicone bodies for automated use.

In short, Grumpy is part art, part unsettling commentary on how automation has changed our relationship with the physical form.

Three Days of Radical Conversations and Performances

Each event in Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy takes a unique angle on the theme, blending philosophy, performance, and tech-driven storytelling.

Bodies and the Industrial Complex (28th January)

This opening night explores the commodification of desire and the systems shaping modern sexuality. After a screening of Grumpy, a conversation unfolds between writer Alex Quicho and performer Vex Ashley (Four Chambers), chaired by Professor Feona Attwood. The evening closes with a screening of A Cyborg Manifesto, a striking visual essay on a life spent online.

🕕 Time: 18:45 – 20:30

🎟 Tickets: £8 (Full Price) / £6 (Concession)

Future Fantasies: Intimacy and Fiction (30th January)

This session looks at how fiction and technology intersect to reshape intimacy and desire. Artist Sophie Cundale presents a performative reading of Guinea Pig before engaging in a conversation with SWARM Collective (a sex-worker-led initiative) and author Helen Hester. A screening of Virus Becoming by Shu Lea Cheang rounds off the night.

🕕 Time: 18:45 – 20:30

🎟 Tickets: £8 (Full Price) / £6 (Concession)

A New Love: Machines and Love (1st February)

The final event is a full-day deep dive into AI-driven relationships and digital intimacy. Kicking off with Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s TRANS-PORT ME, the session includes a discussion with artist Kate Cooper, chaired by philosopher Johnny Golding. Expect thought-provoking questions: Can AI truly replicate love? Are we heading for a post-human future of companionship?

The evening explodes into a series of performances by Candela Capitan, Malik Nashad Sharpe, Black Venus, Jao, and Marissa Malik (Manuka Honey), celebrating the blurred line between human and machine-driven connection.

🕕 Time: 16:00 – 21:00

🎟 Tickets:

Talk only: £8 (Full Price) / £6 (Concession)

Performances only: £10 (Full Price) / £7.50 (Concession)

Full-day access: £15 (Full Price) / £11.25 (Concession)

Why Somerset House’s Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy Matters Right Now

This isn’t just an arts festival—it’s a cultural pulse-check on our digital future. Whether you’re an artist, a tech enthusiast, or just someone intrigued by the way modern intimacy is shifting, this programme offers a rare opportunity to engage with leading thinkers and creators.

Expect unfiltered conversations, experimental performances, and immersive screenings designed to challenge, provoke, and inspire. With topics spanning AI-driven relationships, automated sex, and the politics of online intimacy, Somerset House Studios once again proves why it’s a hotbed for creative innovation.