Art Sex Music 1st Edition by Cosey Fanni Tutti ISBN 9780571328512 0571328512

Art Sex Music is the autobiography of a musician who, as a founding member of the avant-garde group Throbbing Gristle and electronic pioneers Chris & Cosey, has consistently challenged the boundaries of music over the past four decades. It is the account of an artist who, as part of COUM Transmissions, represented Britain at the IXth Biennale de Paris, whose Prostitution show at the ICA in 1976 caused the Conservative MP Nicholas Fairbairn to declare her, COUM and Throbbing Gristle ‘Wreckers of Civilisation’ . . . shortly before he was arrested for indecent exposure, and whose work continues to be held at the vanguard of contemporary art. And it is the story of her work as a pornographic model and striptease artiste which challenged assumptions about morality, erotica and art. Art Sex Music is the wise, shocking and elegant autobiography of Cosey Fanni Tutti.ReviewA remarkable autobiography … One of Art Sex Music’s most compelling elements is the clash between the everyday and the extreme … A surprisingly rounded human portrait. It is difficult, provocative material, but Tutti’s clarity and conviction cuts through … Inspiring. (Victoria Segal The Sunday Times)An extraordinary life … There are moments of deadpan humour in it … but it is an often harrowing read, pockmarked by familial dysfunction and violence … For all the talk of investigating concepts, Art Sex Music makes [Throbbing Gristle’s] sound seem less like an artistic exercise than an expression of the chaos in their personal lives … It seems a miracle the band managed to achieve anything, let alone a series of albums that spawned an entire musical genre named after their record label, Industrial. (Alexis Petridis The Guardian)Art Sex Music isn’t merely a memoir, then; it’s a chance for Tutti to clear up the misconceptions about her career and reclaim her own narrative – and what an extraordinary narrative it is. This is the tale of a preternaturally creative individual dedicated to challenging and, where possible, breaking down ideological and social barriers, often at enormous personal cost. It’s also about resourcefulness amid astonishing unpleasantness and hardship … Forever accustomed to life as an outsider, Tutti has never sought approval, but now it’s here whether she likes it or not. (Fiona Sturges The Guardian)Entirely gripping […] direct and funny. (Telegraph)Art Sex Music is an inspiring document of just how far, and far out, she has travelled (Sunday Times)Artist, musician and sometime pornographic actress Tutti on her extraordinary life – and her awful liaison with a Throbbing Gristle bandmate. (The Telegraph’s Best Books of 2017)[Cosey] is far from a household name but her book Art Sex Music arrives laying out huge concepts in its title, confidently, as it should. (Jude Rodgers New Statesman 2017-05-02)For someone with an (imagined) fearsome reputation as an “out there” artist, this memoir succeeds because the details unfold at a gentle pace. you don’t get any sense of bitterness about the things that have gone awry, just a sense of wonder related to the things that have gone right. That kind of positivity, in these awful times, is exactly what we need. (Freq)A fascinating document. (Drowned In Sound)An unfussy narrative that’s rich in everyday observation, a style that reflects the blunt honesty that was a hallmark of Throbbing Gristle’s life-as-art aesthetic (Mojo)Easily my favourite book of 2017 so far (Dangerous Minds)9/10 – Art Sex Music is an essential read […] Fearless, powerful, humorous, warm and intelligent, Cosey is everything and this book is a manual for anyone wanting to be the same. (Louder Than War)Tutti’s commitment to individualism precludes any wider political perspective on the industrial culture she helped to instigate, but this fierce adherence to herself […] has taken her closer to the action than most (The Wire)8/10 – A fearless and frequently eye-popping account of her life (Uncut)’There are avant-garde artists and then there is Cosey Fanni Tutti. The singer-performance-artist-provocateur gained fame (or notoriety) with the 1970s shockers Throbbing Gristle, performance strange street “actions” or exhibiting her used tampons. Yet for all the maggots, lice and body fluids in her memoir, this is a sober and honest book that establishes the woman born Christine Newby as a serious and committed artist.’ (Sunday Times Books of the Year: Music)Book DescriptionPunk, pornographer, pioneer, provocateur: the incredible story of Cosey Fanni Tutti, the performer whose art and music inspired a generation and rocked the establishment to its core.About the AuthorCosey Fanni Tutti whose career began in 1969 is a respected artist and musician of worldwide renown – for her Art, her work in the sex industry, as co-founder of Industrial music and Throbbing Gristle, and her pioneering electronic music as ‘Chris & Cosey’ and ‘Carter Tutti’.