ARCHITECTURE, DISPATCHES ART, MUSIC, ARCHITECTURE, FILM, SHOPPING, NEWS AND THINGS TO MAKE AND DO… ART, MUSIC, ARCHITECTURE, FILM, SHOPPING, NEWS AND TH
[NOT] UNDER THE INFLUENCE
COSEY FANNI TUTTI ON INDEPENDENCE
portrait JOHN SPINKS
I ALWAYS REGARD THE TERM ‘INFLUENCE’ TO MEAN WHO OR WHAT HAS DIRECTLY INFORMED MY WORK AND IN THOSE
TERMS I’M NOT CONSCIOUS OF ANY INFLUENCE.
If anything, the biggest influence was being disowned by my father, because this turned out to be my
liberation from established expectation. I had a blank canvas from that point on, and I have always
relished that feeling and run with it. Being totally self-reliant on a practical level is also important
for maintaining positive control, hence starting a record label, having my own recording studio, etc.
But as far as the work itself is concerned, my independence stems from being sourced from within, through
my own worldly experimenting and experience.
I’m not a voyeuristic or token artist: I’m driven by honesty, so I like my source materials to be generated
from my own experience. The practice of work being one-dimensionally referenced to other art seems
pointless and shows a lack of confidence in one’s own voice. I prefer authoritative comment. For example,
in relation to my experience in the sex industry [documented in the 1976 exhibition Prostitution at the
ICA, London], I was very keen to explore what seemed to be the [sex magazine] rulebooks for people’s
aspirations regarding sexual practicalities and fantasies. In light of the fact that sex is a fundamental
necessity for all human beings, for procreation and enjoyment, it was interesting to think about the rules
in place for keeping customers satisfied.
I don’t want to be steered by institutions. It’s important to be mindful that art colleges and the market
exist in the shadow of, and because of, the art they administer. That system tends to create sterile,
neutral work that directs you into known territory. Even subversion is carefully steered to an acceptable
level. In Throbbing Gristle we never really thought about whether what we did had been done before. It was
about the doing of things that we felt were missing, unspoken, and that also appealed to us aesthetically.
We had no agenda as far as wanting a career in art or music: we just did what the hell we wanted to do.
The members of Throbbing Gristle have all done so much in the last 30 years, and we each bring that
into the new mix. Why would we want to repeat ourselves? It’s boring. It’s far more interesting to find
new directions.
COSEY FANNI TUTTI IS AN ARTIST AND MUSICIAN LIVING IN NORFOLK, ENGLAND. HER WORK IS
PRESENTLY INCLUDED IN PANIC ATTACK! ART IN THE PUNK YEARS, AT THE BARBICAN, LONDON,
UNTIL 9 SEPTEMBER, AND WACK! ART AND THE FEMINIST REVOLUTION, AT THE GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY
AT MOCA, LOS ANGELES, UNTIL 16 JULY. THE NEW THROBBING GRISTLE ALBUM, PART TWO: THE ENDLESS
NOT, IS OUT NOW, AND CARTER TUTTI, HER COLLABORATION WITH CHRIS CARTER, IS DUE TO RELEASE
ITS NEXT ALBUM, FERAL VAPOURS OF THE SILVER ETHER, IN OCTOBER. WWW.COSEYFANNITUTTI.COM
ARTREVIEW three.linsix.lin
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