Can you fu*k to an irregular beat? Michael Portnoy’s Progressive Touch depicts three futuristic, absurdist love scenes in which the goal is to “improve” sex by complicating its rhythm and choreography. Sex as dance as comedy. Enacted by three real life couples, the dancers’ every explicit move is synchronized to the propulsive, unpredictable score by Stefan Maier which borrows elements from progressive rock, trap and math metal.

Originally commissioned by steirischer herbst (Graz, Austria) and co-produced with Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art (Middleburg, the Netherlands) as a three-channel installation, the work was subsequently exhibited at the Emily Harvey Foundation (New York, USA) and Shed Halle (Zurich, Switzerland). A single channel version premiered in competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020 and subsequently traveled to over 30 film festivals internationally.