The following text contains a description of sexual assault that may be upsetting to some.

Sugar dating as a source of satisfaction, trauma, and income. What does the sexual transaction have to do with the art world, and what does it offer and take away from people who choose sex work?

“I started university quite young – a year after graduating secondary school. At that time, if you don’t have a strong topic to use as a source for your final work, you become the source yourself. It’s perfectly logical,” writes the author of the autobiographical essay. Her identity remains hidden, but the text itself presents the young artist’s rather revealing personal journey toward self-discovery, among other things.

Studying at an art school, along with the need to make a living and to have a space to create, led the artist to a sugar dating platform. In retrospect, she looks back on this experience in the context of sexual assault, the nature of which is currently still being debated, including at the legislative level. Both earning income from sexual services and a lack of status as an artist/performer can fill people’s lives with critical financial and psychological insecurity. In her book Working Girl, Sophia Giovannitti writes that both worlds – art and sex work – are rife with fraud, unclear legal contours, and exploitation.

The podcast is produced by tranzit.cz, an initiative for contemporary art, in collaboration with the online daily Deník Alarm. The series is hosted by Tereza Havlínková, the sound design is by Jonáš Rosůlek, the visual identity is designed by the studio Day Shift Office, and the producer of the podcast is Tereza Stejskalová from tranzit.cz. The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.