2021, Serpentine Gallery, London, England · Curated by Rebecca Lewin Tomàs Saraceno

Professor Sir Roy Paterson sits back in his plush chair in his office at the Oncological Venomology Unit, in The Rayne Institute, Central London, puts the phone down, coughs, and purses his fleshy lips, as if deep in thought. He can hear sirens on Gower Street at regular intervals – a normal everyday occurrence.

Everything is going pretty well he thinks. His star is in the ascendancy, although he feels a bit peculiar, with headaches, some flashing lights on and off, stiffness, persistent stuffiness and cattarh and a dry cough which has made his voice hoarse. Oh well, probably just a cold. He says out loud.

Welch has told Paterson that he and Tomás along with their team of scientists have already completed production of the first successful samples of the anti-Orgonic Cancer Vaccination, simply known as CanVx. They have tested it, under the radar in Africa on several subjects suffering with apparently incurable cancers. There were a few initial hiccups, a few deaths even, not unexpected with the relatively unpredictable and dangerous gene-spliced virotherapies, but the dose has been adjusted, and it has, as if miraculously, now totally cured several advanced cancers.

Treatment of patients with this class of viral trans-gene plasmid therapies has resulted in severe adverse effects and, even in rare cases, death. These modalities range from vector-based cancer therapies, to treating monogenic diseases with life-altering outcomes. The introduction of specific cell function-altering genetic material into a patient, by in vivo delivery of the therapeutic gene, the transgene of interest, leads to their expression in cells, which serves to confer a desired effect, but we should note that these effects are often more unpredictable than appreciated.

The only thing is, Welch explained to Paterson, in its current format CanVx has a marked and potentially very significant side effect, the apparent complete obliteration of the sex drive (a side effect he couldn’t help but notice following his own dramatic experience of The Mother Spider and her web in Tomás’s studio. Welch also suspects, but doesn’t mention possible psychic side effects as well). He tells Paterson that NICE have agreed to phase 1 trials, but before the MHRA will grant regulatory approval they want clarification on the sexual side effects. Paterson is told to expect a call from NICE to set up a short study looking into this. Welch doesn’t think it’s a game changer in terms of marketing The Cure to the UK government, but foresees trouble ahead. Welch the visionary also wonders about the potential for splicing the web gene with a respiratory virus creating a potentially infectious version of CanVx, creating a tool, even weapon, of enormous power.

Paterson strokes his thighs through the fine worsted wool of his tailor made Saville Row suit. He feels his gifts of diagnosis and even prophecy are expanding daily, though bizarrely they seem to remain unappreciated by his peers, and he has a healthy and wealthy waiting list for his personal brand of beautifying breast resections. There is the matter of the rather annoying General Medical Council and Royal College disciplinary hearings, but he has friends in high places who owe him favors. His thoughts turn, as they do more frequently day by day, to cleavage and his sexual appetite which seems to be increasing all the time. He holds out his hands in front of him for inspection, they tremble and seem to be becoming hairier. He sees a fly buzzing by and follows it abnormally quickly, his eyes, flickering and he experiences a buzzing in his ears, then he rubs his eyes, noisily salivates, clicks his tongue on the roof of his mouth and licks his lips. His sexual proclivities have become more intensely demanding than ever. He rubs his groin, penis tingling and thinks of masturbating. It seems as if his sexual organs are being stimulated by the SpiderWeb bra itself. Certainly every time he drapes it over breasts, fastens the straps and switches it on he feels an intense jolt through his testicles into his organ, an pro-orgasmic rush and an insatiable desire to fuck cleavage. Then he thinks of Victoria’s cleavage, fashioned by him, in the ante-room next door, the reception to his private Walpole Street clinic, and presses the buzzer. She too is feeling a glow of self satisfaction, basking in the glory reflected by Paterson and his genius. She has noticed the crescendo in his lascivious demands. He now wants her to watch and record on film his encounters with ‘willing’ patients. She has also noticed that he seems to be changing physically, slowly but definitely. He is looking more gaunt, losing weight, his movements and gait seem more intense, rapid and jerky. And she is sure his hair has become much drier, spikier, and she has noticed his runny nose. a stringy kind of catarrh. The buzzer goes and she immediately gets up and walks in anticipation the few paces to his office, her heels clicking, checking and adjusting her cleavage as she goes. As she enters he looks at her and drops his eyes to her décolletage, a deep exposed cleavage lined with a very low cut black silk bra. He is leaning back in his chair. She waits then he signals her to come forward. He doesn’t need to say anything, she knows. She bends over in front of him and unbuttons his trousers then once she has released his semi erect penis she stands upright and unbuttons her blouse so that he can inspect the cleavage between her breast implants. This is a familiar routine. He has given her especially large implants and as she squeezes her breasts together he hardens, his nose runs, he dribbles, and blows his nose. But he doesn’t want to touch her yet as for now the gaze on this object is quite sufficient. Very nice indeed if I may say so. I’ve been very pleased with you Victoria, his voice a little husky.

He pushes himself up, stiffly, out of his chair and lies down on the eighteenth century chaise longue, allowing his ever more imposing penis to stand up erect, a signifier of demand. Victoria, recognizes the sign hitches up her skirt and moves on top of him, legs either side of his waist. She leans forward and leaving her low cut bra on takes his penis and bending forwards slides it upwards smoothly into the inviting ready lubricated crevice of her cleavage. She caresses him and pushes her breasts together tightly to encompass him, not altogether unaroused herself. The head of his penis bobs up and down in front of her face. Mm thank you Professor I can see you’re pleased. She wants to please him.

She pleasures him slowly to near satisfaction. Then abruptly and in a rather jerkily spasmodic movement Paterson pushes her roughly and gets up tucking himself away with difficulty, penis still erect, he is breathless now: I’d like you to take part in a clinical trial I’m conducting Victoria. He coughs then continues without pause, or a trace of irony. It’s just a quickie. Victoria wipes up the copious semen, more than ever, that’s another thing she’s noticed, from her neck and upper chest – the proverbial pearl necklace. He continues still panting, and tucking his organ away, now subsiding, into his trousers, You don’t need to know this of course but the powers that be have reason to think that the cancer extraction is also, bizarrely, extracting sexual potency. This is potentially of enormous significance as you can imagine, though I can’t see it happening myself, damn thing seems to have the opposite effect on me. Anyway, so, I need to do a few quick experiments to keep the goon squad happy, so we get to test some interesting new equipment on lucky you my dear. Victoria purses her lips and crinkles her eyes in what she likes to think of as a display of attractive coquettishness, as she slowly buttons up her blouse, her own arousal slow to fade. Of course Professor I’d love to. Well, Paterson continues, they’ve managed to manufacture the CanVx injection and I’m taking delivery of the first batch very soon, and after today’s test, a baseline measure of sexual arousal, the vaccination will be your next Treat, and then we’ll repeat the tests. Victoria certainly has no doubt that her own usual very healthy, sexual drive has diminished since having her breast cancer extracted. Nonetheless she still becomes aroused when being fucked, albeit a titty fuck as she thinks of it, in the cleavage. Beckoned by Paterson who finishes buttoning up his trousers, she finishes buttoning up her blouse and follows him down the corridor to the lab. He is walking stiffly jerkily as if urgently arms swinging out sideways and with a sideways slant, he appears deranged but intent, focused.

Paterson has been contacted by Professor Collins head of the human genome project, and senior advisor to the NICE committee on The Cure for Cancer Program. He describes himself as a serious Christian which we can only imagine means he thinks there is such a thing as a non serious Christian. He is very excited and talks rapidly. It looks like we may have a serious contender for The Cure Professor Paterson. Quite remarkable advance by Welch’s research team. Truly remarkable. They’ve somehow managed to map the genome already and even incorporate The Mother Spider’s DNA, the genes responsible for her web production, into the DNA of a viral vector to produce a viral plasmid stable enough to be injected into humans. Paterson just listens. This plasmid is apparently powerful enough to trigger a cellular response that appears to silence whatever it is that is sustaining cancerous growth, even of advanced cancers causing them to regress and ultimately vanish. If that’s true this is a truly momentous advance of unimaginable potential. They call it the Anti-Orgone effect apparently, based on some research by Germans into Orgone, which I’ve always thought was a myth by the way. Anyway, whatever, they say they’ve tested the vaccine on several individuals though he hasn’t published anything as yet. Thing is Professor they have been very surprised by a marked impact on sexual function in all of the recipients, it just knocks it out completely, don’t know why but there it is. Thing is the MHRA want a quick study here in the UK to assess this possible sexual side effect on some, shall we say, naturalized Britons, to see if this is a consistent finding. Ah ha. Paterson utters quietly. As you can appreciate Professor if this really is the case then it’s a tricky one but the powers that be are very keen to roll this out ASAP, Britain First for a Cancer Free UK, and all that. What we want you to do, without too much fuss as it were, and of course in absolute confidence, is a quick and dirty study in your Rayne Institute Lab, maybe just 2 or 3 individuals. Simple idea, I’ve asked a sexologist to get in touch with you who knows about these things, measure sexual arousability, give the jab, then repeat the test. If it’s so bloody clearcut we’ll have an answer for the MHRA straight away then they can fight it out with the PM’s lot. As far as we’re concerned if it cures cancer it’s a goer regardless of any sexual side effect. I’m sure we can persuade enough people to manage without sex if we offer an ultimate Cure for Cancer. Well … Paterson begins but pauses, he knows damn well he wouldn’t give up his sexual freedom for the sake of some Cure, life wouldn’t be worth living. Well, what? Professor Collins continues. Let’s get this all wrapped within a month, OK? Ah right, says Paterson croakily, his throat is dry and he coughs, No problem. But really, if it does destroy the sexual function won’t this be a bit of an issue? Well it won’t be our problem so let’s just crack on and get these tests out of the way and hand it back to the MHRA folk eh? Paterson mentally shrugs. Of course, sure.

We should be amazed by the speed of scientific progress here. The Human Genome Project technology has been used by Welch’s company Extractas BioSciences to rapidly map the genome of The Giant Argentinian Cave Spider, now often simply referred to as The Mother Spider. Cheryl Hayashi, a spider silk geneticist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, is among the researchers and has found The Mother Spider’s silk genes contain short stretches of DNA. These are called motifs and vary between species in number and in their exact sequence. Interestingly she has postulated that the analysis also supports the provocative idea that The Mother Spider’s web may have attained its miraculous anti-cancer properties when a virus invaded its ancestor’s cells, and left behind some of its DNA with the DNA of its scorpion like progenitor. This would be in much the same way some spiders are thought to have developed neurotoxic venoms. Florence Débarre, a theoretician who specializes in evolutionary biology and works at CNRS, the French national research agency, unearthed the data, which consist of genetic sequences posted in GISAID, a virology database, by Chinese researchers. Hayeshi has found by combing through the genome database that the closest known matches to the Mother Soider’s spider’s anti-carcinogenic genes are viral, the largest viruses having as many as 200 genes. So, perhaps it is viruses that hold the key to The Cure and unlocking the nature of the life-force, Orgone or Élan Vital, a force now being unleashed on humanity by the Mother Spider.

The UK Tory Party Cornerstone Group and others from the Far Right of the Party have been contacted. or lobbied to be more accurate, by David Welch on a secure video link, about the cancer vaccine CanVx. He has offered the UK Govt exclusive access, offering a few intangible benefits to the honorable members to lubricate the process: women, holidays all expenses paid, even men and so on,, for the right price, and he has even suggested a strategy for successful implementation. Welch has quite rightly perceived that the Far Right are the most likely to exert effective pressure on the beleaguered prime minister suffering a marked decline in popularity since the fiascos of both Covid and Brexit. Welch has convinced them on the basis of secret trials carried out mainly in Africa, that the SpiderWeb technology works extraordinarily effectively on all cancer. He explains how the geneticists working with Tomás and others have developed a prototype cancer vaccine based on a viral plasmid. He shows them a short video showing how, by gene splicing spider DNA from the web onto viral DNA an injectable plasmid can be created. And how this can then carry the web genes into cells where they will effectively terminate Orgone’s cellular effects sustaining cancerous growth, causing cancers to regress and disappear. Welch has persuaded them that this injection will not only eradicate existing cancer but also, he believes, prevent any future cancers developing. He is upfront about the likely impact on sexual appetite and possibly potency, but sees this as a potential political advantage to the Far Right. He suggests that in the right climate this is quite likely to create an atmosphere of civil unrest possibly necessitating, for security reasons, the enforced proroguation of parliament and even the imposition of martial law, effectively propelling the Right-Wing in to uncontested absolute power. along with Tomás, Welch strongly suspects that Orgone is necessary for both the development of cancer and the libidinal function of the human sexual instinct, and that the cancer viral vaccine plasmid effectively extracts Orgone from the body.

Reich in the 1940s thought that it was deficiency in Orgone (libido) that caused disease but he had got that the wrong way round. Orgone is the long postulated but until now never identified life-force itself. This is the excess that accompanies life itself that manifests most evidently physically during sexual acts in orgasms and as persistent cancerous growths and psychically most evidently in narcissists in the form of hyperbolic anxiety ridden fetishistic perversions and destructive phobias.

Welch suggests to the MPs, who by now are all agog, some intensely excited and some intensely nervous and some both, that with the right preparation and support from certain sympathetic academics and security think-tanks the population at large could be persuaded using the potency of fear as the driver, that there is an imminent cancer epidemic, that it is a patriotic duty to attack the problems of both over-population and of cancer, that cancer may be infectious and can be spread by sexual contact and therefore is primarily the fault of the sexually immoral and the liberal minded social classes, and to accept that implementation of the CFUK program requires firm policing and appropriate legislative sanctions for non-compliance.

Paterson has been briefed by Professors Cameron and Dillon chairs of the OncoWeb NICE committee, NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence), and the The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) respectively, the UK government quangos tasked with assessing the safety and cost-effectiveness of this rather novel medical intervention. He has been given to understand that the Prime Minister’s office is insisting on the speedy and urgent purchase of CanVx the cancer vaccine. The Tories, and especially the PM, are desperate for some dramatic news, to distract the masses from the economic crisis, the aftermath of the pandemic and Brexit. And they have a suspicion that this new technology may do a lot more than just distract the masses. Not only could it be The Cure, it has potential to be a kind of nuclear option, the tool they need to wield power and accumulate unimaginable wealth much more securely and fundamentally. So, the politicians are also very interested in not only its ability to eradicate cancer but also to ascertain its suspected effects on sexual potency and fertility. Behind the scenes the Prime Minister and certain cabinet colleagues of the Cornerstone Group, are pressing for urgent progress on the Zero Cancer Campaign for a Cancer Free UK (CFUK). The government’s popularity is waning rapidly even as it cranks up its nationalist and racist anti-migrant rhetoric, and as the economy goes into a post Brexit/Covid recession leading to mass strikes and the beginnings of civil unrest. The Tories need a crisis to regain the initiative in the polls, a war of some kind. Cornerstone and the security thinktanks want to harness public sentiment for the sake of national security, as they see it, and to impress the USA. They have hinted that even a Cancer Pandemic, possibly infectious, and an exclusively British Cure to match would be rather helpful. The security wallahs at RUSI (Royal United Services Institute) have expressed concerns about the potential civil unrest that could be provoked but the government feels that with persuasion RUSI long honed skills ar manipulating public sentiment can be relied upon to manufacture the necessary evidence and nationalist propaganda. Cornerstone’s political heavyweights, following their brief, combined with the successful NHS commission of CanVx could provide the basis for a major political coup and, in addition, set the scene for a much needed more prosperous relationship with the USA. They aren’t so naive as to think that Welch hasn’t also offered ‘exclusive’ access to the USA maybe even Russia, India or China, though this won’t stop them and the PM claiming a world beating moonshot for a CFUK and a British First Past the Post success.

In response, in the first place, Paterson with the help of the sexologist recommended by Professor Collins, has set up a preliminary program to test the feasibility of measuring female sexual responsiveness. He is sure that male sexual responsiveness is easier to measure, the response being a fairly obvious visual cue, and they can deal with that later. Although Victoria has had a partial cancer extraction her arousal seems relatively intact. So Paterson plans a before and after arousal test on Victoria to see if injecting her with the viral plasmid CanVx affects sexual arousal and function.

Paterson ushers Victoria into a darkened room. He closes the door behind them. They are alone and in the dim light apart from a glow from some electronic equipment and a running projector shining an image on to the ceiling above a couch. He puts a hand on her shoulder and guides her to the couch. If it’s OK then there are one or two tests, quite quick and simple. Take off your clothes and lie on the couch Victoria. He watches. She quickly slips off her dress. He adds. And underwear, that’s it. She lies down naked feelings the cold of the plastic on her back and buttocks. Victoria looks up, a projector is already set up and running and on the ceiling above her head is a bright white rectangular projection with the acronym CFUK 2023: Female Potency Vaginal photoplethysmography (VPP) – Study 1. Paterson smooths back his receding hairline with a bony hand. He coughs as his voice is a little croaky. Good, ok so.

Paterson is using Vaginal photoplethysmography, the primary method used to assess female genital arousal. a method developed by Palti and Bercovici in 1967.

Palti, Y. & Bercovici, B. [“Photoplethysmographic study of the vaginal blood pulse”], “American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 97, 143–53”, 1967

Now, Victoria, are you comfortable? He reads from a script. I am going to show you an erotic film made by a woman that contains not just an act but a significant amount of foreplay. I want you to pay attention, if you like imagine you are the woman being aroused in the film. and relax. In addition I want you to use your fingers to gently massage your clitoris and to masturbate. Then he touches the inside of her knees. Just spread your legs for me. Victoria. She is already wet and aroused and enjoying the attention. She spreads her legs wide. He reaches over and parts her labia and massages some warm gel into her clitoris and she moans quietly. Now this will feel a little cold. He inserts a vaginal photoplethysmograph with a light source and photosensitive cell on a vaginal probe. wired up to a monitor to measure changes in vaginal blood flow, the indicator of arousal. With his hand slowly working on his own erect cock he uses some more of the same gel and watches her masturbate increasingly enthusiastically in the darkened room.

At the enquiry into his cleavage sparing surgery the GMC take a dim view and threaten to suspend him from clinical work and even to strike him from the medical register unless he desists. They are mindful of his high standing amongst the public and medical community though and merely offer a warning. Paterson feels more infallible than ever. The CanVx trials are thus far highly secret. Technically the GMC is unaware of the project although some members are involved but sworn to secrecy.

In any case, Paterson knows in a perverse twist that given that CanVx is so far proving 100% effective at eradicating cancer this means the mastectomies he performs are also strictly unnecessary. And so the cleavage sparing operations are purely for his own pleasure. The mastectomies are simply but crucially and as far as he is concerned necessarily destructive of womanhood at least in the form of their breasts and especially of their nipples the most potent embodiment of his Phallic Mother and his personal phobic object. He is quite confident that in the long run those buffoons at the GMC will leave him alone, quite free to exercise his own peculiar self-appointed prerogatives.

That evening Paterson drives to the Brethen Chapel in Surrey and delivers a fiery sermon. We must urgently prepare ourselves and cleanse our souls for The Second Coming. God’s Will is expressed, the holy miracle of The Cure for Cancer is a sign. The True Believers will embrace The Cure. But the weak, the communists, the immoral, even the professed humanitarians at the United Nations, they will preach against The Cure, will rebel against God’s Will, will foment violence and cause an apocalyptic Global War. He hammers his fist on the podium with each word. His face is puce and his chin flecked with saliva and his nose runs. and those stained with sin. He stares intently into the eyes of the congregation some of whom look at each other, uncomfortable. The sermon did not go down well. Senior members of the Brethren met later and discussed the Bible’s teachings. Disease is a price for sin, though one can be a True Believer and still suffer disease without sin. The Cure is surely a deception of the Anti-Christ. They voted to summon Paterson. He will be shunned, excommunicated until he has seen the error of his ways and paid adequate penance. For many years Paterson has been an Evangelical Christian preacher in the premillinarial sect given to increasingly extreme ideologies and a devotion to solo scriptura.

Sola Scriptura acknowledges the facts that the Bible is the Word of God, inerrant, sufficient, without error, and the source of all truth.

https://www.concordia.edu/blog/five-solas-of-the-protestant-reformation.html

The image he has thus cultivated has given him access to certain groups of right wing Christian preferences including the High Tory Cornerstone Group. However. he is among the first to notice, along with Welch, Tomàs, and the leading member of Cornerstone and UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Justice, Iain Jones, the potential for cancer-extraction combined with mass infertility and impotence to lead humanity into the abyss of civil war and destruction. For Paterson and Iain Jones this will fulfil the biblical prophecy of The Tribulation as foretold in The Book of Revelations, the earthly manifestation of the work of the Anti-Christ anticipating the Second Coming of Christ. For them this is not a reason to preach against The Cure, quite the opposite, they belief the economic and political advantages of owning The Cure will accrue to them because of their true faith, the coming Tribulation notwithstanding. This conclusion has created divisions within the various religious denominations, and especially between those who, like the Grand Dame Nesta, believe that despite the inevitability of The Tribulation True Believers must still resist the Anti-Christ and the sinful human rebellion and that these are manifest in the Cure, which is against the will of God. There are others, like Paterson, Jones, and most of the High Tory Cornerstone Group who prefer to believe that ancient traditions including sex only within marriage, patriotism and free enterprise constitute the will of God, and who have no hesitation in backing the CFUK programme, the Cure for Cancer and at the same time an opportunity to cull the population of the weak, sexually immoral and faithless. Of course, as self-professed leaders we may imagine that they may think their gene lines too valuable to be terminated at this crucial point in history. They may have to make the ultimate sacrifice to risk cancer and continue as virile and sexually active as ever, if not more so.

In a very short time, the required evidence and propaganda packages are put together. Paterson as head of the Rayne Institute Research Oncological Venomology Unit has convinced NICE and the MHRA to pay for the viral plasmid Canvx Technology from the NHS budget, factoring in affordability because of anticipated progressively fewer cancer expenses and fewer patients overall anyway as the birth rate drops. Paterson informs Welch and a contract is signed. Now just as austerity is biting hard, strikes are increasing in frequency and civil unrest is predicted by RUSI and other UK security think tanks, the government does four things. It prorogues parliament, it mandates the universal roll out of the mass cancer-extraction and sexual relief program (euphemism for mass sterilization) across the country, mandates penalties for non-compliance, and institutes martial law forbidding use of the internet, strikes and mass gatherings. The Prime Minister announces the world beating British Cancer Free UK Moonshot is successful to a fanfare of widespread media praise.

The government propaganda machine and security think tanks devise media messages persuading the public at large that The Cure For Cancer And Sex and the rapid depopulation of the country is not only The Solution, but also a patriotic duty and the only solution, to national redemption, to abolish austerity and the sexual promiscuity and sins of the feckless populace. The propaganda even hints that cancer may be infectious and transmitted by sexual acts, a powerful rumor with a dramatic and rapid impact on public opinions and behaviors, creating intense and deep divisions within and across communities.

So, of course then, as we have already imagined, some of the elite powerful and wealthy are sure to find ways to create loopholes, to evade the CanVx protocol. They will break The Law with impunity and so hold on to their sex drive and their peccadilloes. At the same time as the program is rolled out Welch suspects that the psychic side effects are going to generate a critical mass of desexualised fanatical supporters of The Cure intent on enforcement and increasingly harsh policing. And so, whilst Welch and his team organize mass production of the CanVx vaccines the Far Right are already landing the initial phase of the propaganda campaign and briefing the military, police and security think tanks. Rumors are filtering through even as the PM, impatient and impulsive makes premature announcements about Britain First and the imminent success of the CFUK moonshot. A motley collection of left wing activists, conspiracy theorists, and individualist libertarians are increasingly alarmed and organizing, planning resistance for very different reasons – groups as ideologically different as the Plymouth Brethren and strict dispensational Premillenialists on the one hand who see The Cure as a mortal sin, and the left wing Trotskyite Fourth International in Manchester Group and AntiCapitalist Resistance who effectively see Capitalism as The AntiChrist.