Art Sex Music

by Cosey Fanni Tutti

  The response was unbelievable, so much so that Gen suggested we do an encore – which TG had never done before. ‘Just “Hamburger Lady”,’ he said. Me and Chris preferred to leave it as it was but Sleazy was up for an encore too so we said OK – but just the one song. Then, on the way to the stage, Gen announced that he hadn’t got his duck horn, which was integral to the song. Kirsten searched but couldn’t find it so I had to fill in on my cornet. The impromptu encore caused chaos for Sleazy because he had to frantically reconnect and start up his laptop again. By the time it was up and running the encore was over so he actually never did it. I don’t think anyone noticed with Chris on rhythm and synth, me on cornet and guitar and Gen doing vocals.

  Another day, another show. We were understandably a little fragile so we all took the morning off before an afternoon soundcheck for the TG live soundtrack to Derek Jarman’s film In the Shadow of the Sun. We’d had a new print of the film made and the quality and richness of the colours was breathtaking. Projected so large behind us, it looked fantastic. Sleazy and Chris wanted to be together at one side of the screen so I shared a large table with Gen on the opposite side. With it being dark, we also had to make the stage safe for Gen as he had to get up at some point to play the massive gong we’d hired for the second half of the film. I made sure the sharp edges on the gong stand were padded so Gen couldn’t inadvertently hurt himself.

  The Jarman soundtrack was to be totally different from the previous TG night and would be a lot more ambient. Me and Chris had worked on some things before we set off for Berlin and then got together with Sleazy and Gen in the studio a few days before. Gen had his customary bottle of wine next to him on the table – I dreaded him knocking it over and soaking my equipment. I kept checking on him, that he was OK, as he didn’t play much. At one point he was leaning across the table staring into space and absent-mindedly flicking his violin with a battery, unaware that it was making a noise and coming through the PA. When he got up to play the gong, he knocked a bottle of water off the table and on to the stage, narrowly missing my guitar pedals. That made for an unexpected ‘sound’. At first the gong sounded amazing, then Gen really got into it, staring trance-like and hitting it like he was beating a carpet, not really playing ‘to’ the film. When he stopped, he came back to the table to sit next to me.

  It all worked out tremendously well and everyone adored the evening and was amazed at the transformation in sound that TG could create in comparison to the previous night.

  4 January 2006

  Our last day in the studio … I feel and look so awful and I have to do extra photographs today. I told Paul H he’d have to do some serious photoshopping on me to get anything decent.

  By the time the day had come to a close, we’d managed to record some of Gen’s bass, doodling piano and two lots of vocals. In the sound booth, with a bottle of wine to hand, Gen tried out different vocals for some of the new album tracks we’d put together during the week, descending at one point into a Beefheart impression and exorcist screaming. He emerged pleased with himself, saying how he’d brought the track together for us – like we’d needed his magic touch to get the job done. I said nothing and left the room thinking that we still had a long way to go as far as the second album was concerned.

  There’d been ongoing talks about a TG/Kraftwerk/Aphex Twin ‘5 Cities’ project. A venue had been suggested: an old power plant in Berlin that was due to be renovated (now called Atonal). The first ‘5 Cities’ performance would also be the inaugural event for the newly repurposed building. We were invited to look around, to get ideas for the show. Gen said he didn’t like Kraftwerk and wasn’t interested in coming along.

  The power plant was phenomenal, an immense derelict space, the epitome of ‘industrial’, and could provide a fitting end to the TG regrouping. That evening all TG personnel and friends had a last TG supper together in a nearby restaurant. Gen and Jackie turned up late with glazed eyes and puffy faces. Gen was slumped across the table or leaning on Jackie’s shoulder. He didn’t offer anything in the way of conversation or discuss the TG events or the business at hand – that Markus wanted to tour the TG exhibition. In the end, Markus directed his proposals to the three of us and Paul. Gen and Jackie left, saying they had an early flight, so we said our goodbyes. At breakfast the next day Sleazy said he’d had a slurred, ‘out of it’ call from Gen at 1 a.m. to thank him for everything … A parting morsel of niceness.

  17 January 2006

  The Nico project seems to have become the possible last album of TG. We have Robert Wyatt and Antony in mind to ask for vocals alongside Chris, Sleazy, me and Gen … Hoping to get this done in a live situation built around the ICA plan in June. None of us wants to go into a studio with him again.

  TG in Berlin had been something to behold. There was so much – maybe too much – going on. Every day had been full-on, with rehearsals, the exhibition, the film premiere and ‘in conversation’, gigs, photo shoots, interviews and behind-the-scenes challenges. But it was the best New Year’s Eve I’d had and I’ve got treasured memories of it and everyone who made it so special.

  On balance the trip as a whole was positive, with many offers and interesting projects to consider. The best of which came from Sleazy while we were all in a taxi together: ‘What do you guys think about TG doing a cover version of a whole album?’ He said it would be totally not TG, which ironically made it very TG. ‘How about Nico’s Desertshore, my favourite album?’ he said.

  3 February 2006

  Well I’m in Art Tate mode now as I’m printing new text pages ready for dry mounting, the shippers have just collected the box of Cosey works and I’m beginning to get excited.

  The theme of the Tate Triennial, ‘New British Art’ (curated by Beatrix Ruf): appropriation of cultural material. My sex-magazine actions were selected and I was working like crazy and travelling back and forth to London for meetings with Beatrix, Andrew and the Tate’s associate curators. I stayed in London for three days, installing my works and carefully writing the captions, with assistance from Andrew. My work had a large room to itself, and much like the show at the Van Abbemuseum, the presentation was kept simple, a perfect backdrop for the heavily loaded pornographic imagery and text.

  Being in London and away from other distractions, I was able to focus on my art and be with Andrew and Martin for extended lengths of time rather than my usual swooping visits between other projects. Having that precious uninterrupted time to talk with them in depth about my work was so important and inspiring. They made me feel good about working in the art world again.

  Nick came to the private view with us. It was a fun evening that went on into the early hours. We returned home feeling elated. The press had reported positively on my ‘re-emergence’ in the art world. The Evening Standard front page announced: ‘Tate to show porn star 30 years after ICA outrage – A classic of British art? Welcome back Cosey Fanni Tutti’. And in my hometown newspaper, the Hull Daily Mail: ‘I’m back, decades after the scandals’. Maybe that was what triggered another Gen ‘hand grenade’.

  9 March 2006

  I’ve had enough. I can’t see how I can share air space with someone who quite clearly seems hell bent on causing mayhem in pursuit of his own needs … but we need to discuss TG contractual obligations and anything else necessary for the benefit of TG.

  A few days after the official opening of the Tate Triennial, Gen sent an email to the Tate press office claiming my magazine works as his own, saying, ‘Cosey was only the supplier of my work by default’; that ‘All Cosey did, at my request, was legitimise them as “art” by signing the corners’; that ‘She was embarrassed and uncomfortable about it for a long time and appalled when it became public knowledge via the ICA.’

  Gen had also asserted that he’d secretly bought the magazines and had them framed himself, in silver high-art frames. But it was common knowledge that the magazines had been put into clip frames. Contrary to what he said in the letter, there I was, well documen
ted for all to see in newspapers and magazines (and in my own diaries): NOT embarrassed, NOT uncomfortable, NOT appalled, but stridently confident, modelling for years and collecting my sex magazines, and being photographed smiling on the box of CLIP-framed magazines in the ICA in 1976.

  I saw his sending the letter as a vindictive and malicious ploy to demean me as an artist. Everyone was incredulous when they read it. There were so many lies in it that I thought he’d finally lost the plot. But I took it as him trying to rewrite history, an attempt to exclude me, to place himself in the limelight to be credited for works he hadn’t done. It was beyond reason as to why the hell he thought he could do that when the truth was so well documented as art-historical fact. His claim of ‘appropriation’ in his letter was not quite in the same spirit as that of the works in the Tate show. His denigrating me as subordinate to the ‘male artist’ (him) who (he claimed) used me to make the magazine works smacked of a male chauvinistic attitude and suggested he wasn’t quite the supporter of feminism or egalitarianism he purported to be. In my opinion, as someone ‘now transgendered’, his spurious claims and actions against me (a woman) didn’t cut the mustard as far as true ‘sisterhood’ was concerned.

  I had support from every quarter. The Tate replied to Gen on my behalf. I didn’t respond to him. I gave him and his delusional email the attention it deserved. None. I didn’t want to work with him again. For me, the TG regrouping was over.

  Sleazy corresponded with Gen about the consequences of his letter on TG. What had made matters worse was that Gen had also sent a (slightly amended) version of the letter to the editor of Art Monthly magazine – which was published. His letter went public. TG fans (rightly) started suspecting unrest in the TG camp, asking how Gen could insult me at a time when he was supposedly working with me and expect me to just accept it as his opinion. Sleazy at first put it down to Gen being disruptive. Monte said, ‘Gen just can’t bury the hatchet plus it’s another way to get publicity … I just think he has lots of animosity.’

  Gen eventually made a statement on his website which wasn’t very helpful but revealed his mindset towards TG. There was no apology to me, just further indirect belittlement in the form of a ‘get over it’ attitude, with him stating, ‘Just because a minor point was made in a letter to a magazine … Thee [sic] idea that ANYONE should COUMhow [sic] exponentiate a minor letter to a major issue is ridiculous.’ He didn’t see that his letter should affect TG at all: ‘We do not need to agree, love each other, speak to each other, or respect each other for TG to still remain a force to be exalted.’

  I was again dumbfounded. How do you work with someone who doesn’t feel respect for you, or who feels that speaking to you is not important as far as sharing personal space and the creative process is concerned? I sensed an undertone in the to and fro of emails that I was overreacting, which in turn put me in a defensive position (to prove Gen wrong) when I was the one who had been ‘attacked’.

  I sent Sleazy my ‘evidence’. He was seething that Gen had misled him on a number of counts, while the public nature of Gen’s dissing of me brought back his and Geff’s own past experience of being on the receiving end of Gen’s public maliciousness. He fired off a tirade of facts about both my and Gen’s accounts of ‘Prostitution’ in the Wreckers book, contradicting what Gen had said in the Tate letter: ‘your email to the Tate contains lies, fabrications or at the very least a deliberate distortion of the facts on your part. Presumably intended to be malicious and/or extend your own perceived role.’ That email hit a nerve with Gen. He replied in passive-aggressive mode, turning the situation around to him being the victim – we were all ‘having a go at Gen’. But he did want to carry on with TG and would give it his best, accepting a ‘code of conduct’ we’d all adhere to that would enable TG to carry on.

  15 April 2006

  I don’t want to lose anything TG could achieve because of one malicious little man so I would hope he does the right thing.

  The timing of the latest Gen chaos wasn’t good, as Paul was negotiating for TG to play the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern and we still hadn’t agreed the TG/Mute contract.

  I should have seen the writing on the wall back in 2003, when Gen did an interview with the Independent about his gallery show in London and talked about how ‘he’ had made my magazine actions into art by placing them in a gallery. His retrospective view of COUM and omitting me was also reinforced by a statement on his website. I’d been careful to include and credit him when supplying COUM material for exhibitions. He didn’t afford me the same courtesy. That had infuriated me but I didn’t rise to the bait or ruffle feathers as it was so early on in the TG regrouping. I wanted an apology, or at least a conversation so he could explain his actions. Sleazy felt that this was ‘the bottom line’, and that Gen’s excuses were ‘only believable if followed with a conscientious desire to make good’. There didn’t seem to be any such desire. For the benefit of TG/Mute and other obligations, the dust was left to settle. Communications between me and Gen ceased.

  17 March 2006

  Where would you begin to try and fathom (if you wanted to bother)? All that angst, insults and wasted time.

  We’d reached stalemate with the TG/Mute contract. Another ten points had been added by Gen’s manager – one being that there could be no TG release within three months on either side of any of Gen’s solo releases. That was unacceptable as it effectively meant Gen alone could control the timing of TG releases. His manager said he just wanted to make sure Gen got a fair deal for all the time and artistic effort he’d put into the TG project … No comment.

  But then, out of the blue, Gen asked for the TG/Mute contract to be sent ASAP for him to sign. After months of arguments over Gen and his manager requesting unrealistic amendments, Gen had OK’d the original contract. The release of the TG album Part Two was pencilled in by Mute for October, but Gen informed us that he’d decided to release his own band’s new album around the same time. Not only was that a clash but we also discovered one of their tracks had lyrics from a TG song. In light of potential copyright issues and other promotional considerations, the TG album release was moved to 2007 … keeping the fans waiting even longer.

  17 May 2006

  Hello new day! Exploding heads and all else that challenges us when we wake to perhaps enjoy natures glories.

  Carter Tutti melodies were flowing – soft and melodic, rather laid-back, a little bit jazzy. Recording the new album, Feral Vapours of the Silver Ether, was our haven, an untainted stress-free zone where we could fully immerse ourselves in making evocative, uplifting music.

  Our Carter Tutti and Chris & Cosey work was hardly ever mentioned or acknowledged by Sleazy or Gen. It was as if it didn’t exist, an irrelevance of no interest to them. TG continued to interrupt our other activities. Chris was mastering the audio and Sleazy the videos for the TG DVD box set, TGV, and there were emails and phone calls between them, with me raiding my archive for photos and relevant images for the accompanying booklet. There was still the unresolved issue of that Tate letter. Sleazy saw potential in TG working together and was sad but resigned that it may come to an end. I was happy to be working on more of my own exhibitions and to let TG live performances slip away, even though the Tate was supposedly about to confirm a 2007 TG show.

  8 July 2006

  I haven’t written for ages because of all the work piling up. I do so many emails too so I tend to exorcise things in them and not in my diary.

  After the Tate Triennial show, I’d been selected to be part of an exhibition at Migros Museum in Zurich, ‘It’s Time for Action (There’s No Option)’ – the title being a quote from a Yoko Ono song. There were censorship problems about the pornographic material – internal politics that Heike the curator worked hard to overcome. The selection process had to be revisited. I was determined to take the problem as something to run with rather than fight. The biggest issue was that, like Andrew had said, we had established (via the Tate and other institutions) the maga
zines were art and not pornographic. They were my art-sex actions, and as such their presentation in a gallery resisted their original context. That was key to the concept of the magazine actions. It seemed acceptable for Jeff Koons to do a hard-core pastiche like ‘Made in Heaven’ using the porn star Cicciolina and her reputation, but as a female artist who revealed all, my work was still a problem. Sensitivities seemed unrelenting but had inadvertently made things turn out for the better. The final material encompassed all aspects of my work and made a great exhibit. I included the first presentation of the ‘Self lessness’ Disney action, ‘The Kiss’ magazine work and my music in the form of the Time to Tell album special edition.

  15 December 2006

  I have had morose thoughts of thinking I would sooner die than go through that again. Life is too painful and my pain threshold has been breached.

  I had a feeling of dread about the whole thing. Nick had been ill and I’d been calling him for five days to check on how he was. From the symptoms he had, I suspected it was appendicitis or, worse, peritonitis. I’d told him to go to A&E but he held on, just saying it was probably food poisoning as his doctor had said. After more anxious phone calls and him being in such pain and vomiting, I finally got him to go back to the doctor, who told him to take a taxi immediately to A&E. I waited for Nick to call me to let me know what was happening. In the meantime I followed my instincts and made up his bed and got ready in case we had to rush off (he was seventy-five miles away at uni in Nottingham). I didn’t hear from Nick so I called Nottingham City Hospital and was told that he’d been admitted and would be going in for surgery as soon as possible. My instinct had been right.