Cosey Fanni Tutti

Cosey Fanni Tutti
Cosey Fanni Tutti performing with Throbbing Gristle in Brooklyn, New York in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Christine Newby
Born	(1951-11-04) 4 November 1951 Hull, England
Genres	Industrial
Occupations	Performance artist, musician
Instruments	Guitar, cornet, vocals
Years active	1969-present
Associated acts	COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle, Chris & Cosey
Website	coseyfannitutti.com

Cosey Fanni Tutti (born Christine Newby, 4 November 1951)^[1] is a performance artist and musician best known for her time in the avant-garde groups Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey.^[2]

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."^[3][4]

Early career

She was a performer with COUM Transmissions in 1969.^[5] 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.^[6] As an installation artist, she was selected in 1975 to represent Britain at the IXth Biennale de Paris.^[7]

Pornography

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.^[8] This willingness to deliberately and consciously participate in the process of commercial image production has inspired a number of visual and performance artists, among them Joe Potts and John Duncan. Some of her performance art work has also drawn on her experience as an adult performer.^[9] She was regular performer at the Raymond Revuebar in London, England, during the early 1970s.

Music career

Music was used in some of Tutti's performance art. The use of music led to Tutti's interest in the concept of 'acceptable' music and she went on to explore the use of sound as a means of physical pleasure or pain.^[10] In 1976 she co-founded the group Throbbing Gristle with Chris Carter, Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson and Genesis P-Orridge. The group disbanded in 1981.^[11]

Following the disbanding of Throbbing Gristle, Genesis P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson went on to form Psychic TV, while Tutti and Chris Carter continued to record together under the moniker Chris and Cosey.^[12]

In honor of the dawn of the 21st century, Chris & Cosey changed their stage name to Carter Tutti.

In 2004, after twenty three years apart, all four original members of Throbbing Gristle reunited, and issued a new 12" recording, TG Now. The band continued to collaborate sporadically, and began to perform live shows together for the first time in over two decades.^[13] In April 2009, Throbbing Gristle toured the United States, appearing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and playing shows in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Chicago.

In October 2010, Throbbing Gristle began a European tour; however, following the band's first tour date at the London Village Underground venue,^[14] London, on October 23^[15] Throbbing Gristle's website announced that Genesis P-Orridge was no longer willing to perform with the band, and would return to his home in New York. Chris, Cosey and Peter finished the tour without P-Orridge, under the name X-TG.^[16][17]

Carter and Tutti performed with Nik Colk Void of Factory Floor at Mute's Short Circuit Festival in May 2011. A live album of the show, with an additional studio track, was released as Transverse in 2012, under the name Carter Tutti Void.^[18]

Later life

Tutti continues to release solo recordings, including a retrospective deluxe box set with many photos and text, called Time To Tell,^[19] and she continues to work as a performance artist in the Dada tradition.

Co-edited with Richard Birkett and published by Koenig Books in 2012, Maria Fusco's Cosey Complex, is the first major publication to discuss and theorise Tutti as methodology.^[20]

Discography

(NOT including Throbbing Gristle, Carter Tutti or Chris & Cosey releases)

• Time To Tell (1983 Flowmotion)
• Nicki (1983 AQM) [with John Duncan and Chris Carter]
• Electronic Ambient Remixes 4: Selflessness (2004 Conspiracy International)
• Mist While Sleeping (2010 Dirter Promotions) [with Philippe Petit]

Videos

• A Study In Scarlet (1986 Conspiracy International)

References

External links

• Cosey Fanni Tutti's homepage
• Official CARTER TUTTI site
• Interview on Time to Tell, about her experience in the sex industry
• Cosey Fanni Tutti at the Tate Triennial 2006
• Cosey Fanni Tutti & Genesis P-Orridge in 1976 - Media frenzy, Prostitution-style/Excerpts from John A. Walker's Art and Outrage about the exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (1976).