Cosey Fanni Tutti
| Cosey Fanni Tutti | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Christine Newby |
| Born |
4 November 1951 Hull, England, UK |
| Genres | Industrial |
| Occupation(s) | Performance artist, musician |
| Instruments | Guitar, cornet, vocals |
| Years active | 1969-present |
| Associated acts | COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle, Chris & Cosey |
| Website | coseyfannitutti |
Cosey Fanni Tutti (born Christine Newby; 4 November 1951) is a performance artist and musician best known for her time in the avant-garde groups Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey.
Her name came about in 1973, before which she performed under the name Cosmosis. According to John Ford, "Cosey Fanni Tutti" was suggested to her by mail artist Robin Klassnick, and it comes from the opera Così fan tutte, meaning literally "They [women] all do the same."
She was a performer with COUM Transmissions of which she was a founding member in 1969. Her addition changed the nature of the group, which, when she joined, was still mostly a musical venture. From that point on, COUM performances became events or, in 1960s parlance, happenings, involving props, costumes, dance, improvisation and street theatre. As an installation artist, she was selected in 1975 to represent Britain at the IXth Biennale de Paris.
She worked for two years on the 'Prostitution' project as part of COUM Transmissions in which she created a revealing exhibition about the porn and sex industry. For this project, she worked as a model for sex magazines and films (see section on Pornography below). It was shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London in 1976. Censorship restrictions were imposed on the exhibition so only one image could be viewed at a time. The project also involved a performance and discussion events in which women working in the sex industry and the public could enter a dialog about issues surrounding this industry and prostitution. Tutti also used her used tampons and used diapers from Mary Kelly's work. This "aroused hysterical reactions from the British media and art establishment, unable to address the political implications of the work".
She had a long career as a stripper and in the fields of pornographic film and magazines, stemming from a desire to incorporate her own image into collages she produced in this period. This willingness to deliberately and consciously participate in the process of commercial image production has inspired a number of visual and performance artists. Some of her performance art work has also drawn on her experience as an adult performer.
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