EROTICA 2004
Olympia, London

Firmly established after several years, London's Erotica festival continues to attract large crowds, and rightfully so. The combination of a wide variety of exhibitors, live photography and art exhibitions and Torture Garden's epic stage show makes this a must, particularly for people who can't or won't visit local erotic boutiques.

This year, the hardcore video village was pushed upstairs, in part because - bizarre as it seems - some visitors to this sex fair get upset by porn movies being displayed. Downstairs, the exhibitors were the usual mix of the fascinating and the bizarre with everything from tubes of lube to highly priced jacuzzis available to buy. There were reasonably continual pole-dancing displays and I'd love to say who provided them, but sadly I failed to make a note of it at the time and the Erotica brochure seems to have evolved into a magazine which fails to list exhibitors. Sorry!

For the first time, the stage show featured full nudity, though for the most art this relaxation in the rules was not taken advantage of - no point crow-barring nakedness into the show just for the sake of it after all, and the Torture Garden shows are always more theatrical than simply erotic. This year saw a burlesque/circus feel to the show which obviously met with Striporama's approval!

As ever, Erotica 2004 proved to be a thoroughly enjoyable, if exhausting, experience, and we look forward to next year!

DAVID FLINT