Cosey Fanni Tutti
Thursday 18 March:
Panel discussion
Born in Hull, Cosey Fanni Tutti began her career in music and art during 1969, appearing in art performances and musical improvisations in Hull until 1972.
In 1973, she moved to London and continued working as a performance artist representing Britain at the 9th Paris Biennale in 1975 and Arte Inglese Oggi in 1976. She also performed in Belgium, Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Austria, USA and Canada until 1980.
Throughout the period 1973 - 1980 she was exhibiting, contributing to mail art exhibitions and performing in other group exhibitions around the world. Often working naked in her performances, she went on to investigate self-image within the context of sex magazines and sex films, glamour modeling and striptease acts. Her experiences within these industries during the period 1973 - 1984 were brought into her art work as she explored the many aspects of sex as it is perceived and transacted as commercial product. She placed conventional beauty in a situation where it was subjected to simulated mutilation before a live audience. This provided a visual contrast highlighting and questioning the notion of what is presentable as 'beauty'.
In her infamous exhibition Prostitution at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, 1976 Cosey Fanni Tutti occupied multiple roles; artist, model, musician, and herself.
Music was used in some of her performances in preference to spoken language, which she considered an obstacle to her visual presentations. She continued to explore the use of sound, scientifically, politically, commercially and as a means of physical pleasure or pain. In 1976 she co-founded the group Throbbing Gristle with Chris Carter, Peter Christopherson and Genesis P-Orridge. They broke the rules of established music and its contextual business practice, ultimately becoming successful with their own record label, Industrial Records. In 1981 she immersed herself in creating music and video with partner Chris Carter under the name Chris & Cosey most recently performing and recording as Carter Tutti. Their joint musical and video collaborations, some 32 albums, have met with continuing international success. In 2002 Throbbing Gristle regrouped and have performed and released new material to great acclaim. In 2008 they reactivated their Industrial Records label.
1994 marked Cosey Fanni Tutti's re-entry into the art world since which time she has exhibited works in the UK, USA, Austria, Germany, Lisbon, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and Sweden. Presently her work is included in Pop Life at Tate Modern from which it travels to Germany and Canada. She now works closely with and is represented by Cabinet, London.
Her art practice takes its place alongside her continuing music work with Chris Carter and more recently the re-grouping of Throbbing Gristle and their continuing world-wide performances and recordings.
Carsten Nicolai aka alva noto, unitxt, 2009.
Photo Dieter Wuschanski
