M HKA Ensembles

Poster

Collection: M HKA Archives.

COUM Transmissions (1969–1976) was an experimental British musical performance collective. Although the members rotated, the active core consisted of the founding member Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti and Spydee Gasmantell, later joined by Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson and others. Inspired by Dadaism, Fluxus and the Beat Generation, COUM did not shrink from challenging, subversive stances. The group was known for its controversial performances and for calling conventional British society into question. COUM’s actions were clearly experienced as offensive, but provocation was never their main motivation. Living in London in the 70s meant having a first-hand experience of the epicentre of a country in turmoil, so they were also concerned with personal reflections and trawling through the dark layers of society in search of taboos and everything that was forbidden. COUM sought out the deepest strata of creativity to pose questions. On two evenings in May 1978, COUM Transmissions performed Scenes of Victory at Today’s Place and at the Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen. Disillusioned with the art world, and in an attempt to push back the boundaries, Genesis P-Orridge consumed tree bark, whisky and other things during the performance, cut patterns into their skin with nails, collapsed and was taken to hospital. Later, Genesis P-Orridge had the following to say about the infamous evening: ‘I was trying to get into a trance state and then I actually did. For the first and only time in my life I spoke in tongues and out came this huge diatribe, and I never used to speak in performances, ever. This was the only time that I did. I started swearing and shouting abuse at the audience and just really went loony, which I presume was the result of alcohol, and then I collapsed and started to vomit and dehydrate. By the time they got me to hospital they couldn’t find a pulse at all.’ (Wreckers of Civilization: The Story of COUM Transmissions & Throbbing Gristle, Simon Ford, 1999). The performance in Antwerp was COUM’s last as a collective. COUM Transmissions gave rise to the pioneering band Throbbing Gristle, also known as TG, from 1975 onwards, led by Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti and others. Although TG set itself the aim of appealing to a wider target audience within popular culture — rather than moving in the niches of the elite art world —it remained a cult band. However, it did attract larger audiences and was widely acknowledged to be a pioneer of the industrial music genre.