Hi, Frank,
Thank you for your email. Wanted to let you know that I had a post-Moore discussion today in class. There were many fruitful places the conversation took in relation to the different responses to your work in the UNC-CH setting. The students were compelled by the polemic and uniqueness of your work, including the experience of meeting you in person.
I agree that the conflict or anxiety I felt was probably in repsonse to the new engagement with your work. I have felt and will continue to feel "inspired" by your performances, Frank (and Linda and Mikee) and I am appreciative that you spent the time with me and the class this week. Again, it brought about a unique experience (possibly the most!) for the students as valuable educationally and possibly a transformative experience...as well as a lively discussion. I told my mother tonight about the discussion and she said to say hi. Thank you again for everything.
With peace and continued support.
Warmly,
Shannon
* * * * *
great, Shannon! I am looking forward to other clases, performances, whatever! What did they say? What were the different responses, the many fruitful places?
yep, the "conflict " afterwards is in reality a door to a wider /deeper freedom. The person can either decide to open the door and enter or shut and lock it. It's her choice.
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
RE: never know what we will find! (Harley Spiller) II
Thank you for telling it like it is Frank! Great stuff. And graet of you to archive it and have it handy at all times! Keep on rockin in the free world, Neil Young..oops I mean Harley
* * * * *
have essays, will travel! Hey, I was on Neil's yacht!
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
* * * * *
have essays, will travel! Hey, I was on Neil's yacht!
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
RE: never know what we will find! (Harley Spiller)
(from Harley:)
I have Karen’s email contact if ever you wanna get her a message…
* * * * *
hey, Karen sent me a Dear John email after I wrote MAINSTREAM AVANT-GARDE? [see below] she made it extremely clear that she didn't want to hear from me again. She was not pleased! Unlike Martha who thanked me... And a few years later wrote me that I had nailed it.
Mainstream Avant-Garde?
By
FRANK MOORE
December 28, 1996
I suppose this is a review of sorts. Two things evoke this review. First Martha Wilson of Franklin Furnace asked me to comment on the Furnace’s plans. The second event was our going to a Karen Finley reading [which cost $3 as opposed to $30 for a Finley performance….which I could not afford].
I have to start by saying I consider both Wilson and Finley powerful voices of the avant-garde. When other performance galleries were making artists create “acts” that would fit into “avant-garde” cabarets…fit in terms of both time and fashionable subject matter…Wilson at the Furnace was giving both artists and the art absolute freedom to perform magic…until THEY shut the Furnace down for “fire violations.” Karen and I were among the artists who enjoyed this freedom.
In other reviews, I have likened Karen’s poetry to Ginsberg’s, and her performances to Lenny Bruce’s in their intensity and laser commentary on the social injustices. Her poetry makes me cry. Her passions within her performances have transported me into very deep states of reality.
So it is always tragic to see figures like these get sucked, seduced, absorbed, tricked, bribed into “the mainstream.” It is tragic not only in personal terms for the individual artists, but in terms of the big picture. When an artist sets herself up as being an artist who goes beyond the normal frame, who tells the hard truths, who explores the unknown…not to be hip, or controversial, or to be interesting…but because that is how our tribal human being evolves, so it has to be done…when that kind of artist then goes after money, personal fame, and/or glamour while still claiming to be doing avant-garde art, it is denying society the real evolutionary function of the real avant-garde. It tells people, audiences and artists alike, that the avant-garde is just a branch of the entertainment complex with the same rules, goals, reality as television, rock music, Hollywood, and sports. This is like telling people a can of Slim Fast is a balanced meal of real food. It is a lie. And the scary dangerous thing is artists are buying/selling this lie.
Why am I on this rant? About a year or two ago, Wilson sent out a mass mailing in which she defended art [maybe to funders] as a profitable industry which pulls money, people, and jobs into cities. [True…if you want to make a lot of money, buy property where artists live/create now to sell to the yuppies when they discover the area!] This logic is a very steep, slippery slope indeed. The first glaring danger of this commercialized logic is art, according to this logic, which is not profitable or sellable is not and can not be successful worthwhile art! [Hey, ain’t that the American way?] I am sure Wilson does not believe this.
Although another mass mailing I received from her in November [I have been mulling it over until now] makes me wonder if she has fallen down that slope into believing the lie. Avant-garde art is art that tells the truth, explores the taboos, pushes the limits. Obviously this kind of art, if it is honest, can not be focused outwardly. Historically, often “The People” [who are not the same thing as “the mainstream”] have identified with the avant-garde because it was telling the truth about their lives. The focus of the avant-garde should always be on telling the truth, not on popularity polls and bottom lines. The focus of the avant-garde has been, and should be, on doing art that is as “pure” as possible…not on mass media entertainment of reaching as many people as possible by shaping “the product” to that goal.
In her letter, Martha refers to the avant-garde art as “once unpopular work…formerly at the non-profit fringe”…art that Franklin Furnace, according to the letter, has groomed for 20 years to get it ready for the mainstream…and now “Franklin Furnace is in a position to lead the avant-garde into the mainstream…” This hurts my head and heart. It is as if Martha does not see her own historical contribution of giving daring art a home. Instead, she tries to take credit for gravity and decay. The mainstream entertainment, by it sheer mass, has always sucked artists out of the fringe, the underground. That is just gravity. In reality, it takes a lot to enter, and to stay in, the underground. The underground is where the real freedom and the real ability to change society are to be found. This is why artists CHOOSE the underground instead of the mainstream. This is also why, when an artist is pulled into the mainstream, this freedom and ability decay. In my own career, I have worked very hard to stay in the underground…this work has been hard precisely because some of the pieces have turned out to be “popular” [whatever that means!]…attracting the mainstream sharks.
The mainstream has always tried to create a fake avant-garde with fake controversies, fake taboos, fake “hipness,” etc. to give the marks a controlled fun-ride through a Disneyland to keep them away from the real edge of life. This is because the powers-that-be can not control or exploit what is in the real avant-garde.
All of this is business as usual…and doesn’t scare me.
What does scare me is that someone like Martha bought into it and is becoming a producer of it! Her letter read like a bad Saturday Night Live skit. She is selling Franklin Furnace to get money to match a $100,000 n.e.a. challenge grant. With this money, and by teaming up with the corporate and media America, Franklin Furnace will be a “content provider for new media” that sniffs out “emerging alternative artists.” [Emerging from where to where? Alternative to what?] These artists and their art must be suitable to be packaged as “alternative comedy [a.k.a. performance art.]” The letter tells us this new alternative comedy will be “funny, yet provocative.” There will be a half-hour t.v. show of this. Plus they will produce short pieces to be aired “through” Saturday Night Live [as if that show has been cutting edge, or even funny, in the past 15 years] and MTV [with its history of censorship!] Moreover they are seeking other ways of giving “audiences a glimpse of the avant-garde world” [whatever the hell that is!] “in an entertaining and easily consumable fashion”…like avant-garde artist trading cards…funded by Philip Morris Companies!
The marketing phrase “alternative comedy [a.k.a. performance art]” is very damaging to performance art because it trivializes art. In fact it avoids “art” all together, selling “alternative comedy” as a weird, consumable form of entertainment which will give you a laugh for your buck. This is not what performance art is. Performance art is the performing/doing/experiencing the act of art. It is going on a physical journey into the unlimited realm of art. Sometimes this journey may be funny or entertaining. But these are not the true goals or rewards. The suggestion [promotion] that these are the rewards of art results in denying people, including the artists, the real full freeing experience of art.
All of this is selling the art, the artists, and the audience way short. I am not questioning Martha’s personal commitment to the real avant-garde art. But realistically such art can not exist in such an environment that she is envisioning. Moreover it is misunderstanding the new media such as the internet and zines. In these media, artists can relate to their audiences directly without middlemen, without compromises, without limiting concepts such as “mainstream”…all for very little money…so why sell out?
But this concept of “alternative comedy” is disturbing. I guess the Karen Finley reading was an example of alternative comedy. She read from her parody of Martha Stewart [why bother?] which she obviously wrote just to fulfill a book deal. The reading was empty schtick, a passionless exercise in cleverness with no content or message. The audience responded with reflex laughter, like a laugh track. The problem was Karen was trying to be an entertainer, a comedian. Karen is not a comedian or entertainer. That is not her function. Her function is to inspire, confront, transmute…to tell the truth with passion. That is why people come to her. When she does not do that, the people are not fulfilled. When she ended her act, the people just sat there numb. Then I asked Karen to read her very deep, very moving poem “Black Sheep”… I just happened to have a copy of it with me. As she read it, magic, life, and power started flowing through her body and out into the audience, uplifting them. When she finished reading, people stood up and clapped…because this was why they came.
Oh, by the way, do you consider yourself mainstream? Do you want to be?
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
I have Karen’s email contact if ever you wanna get her a message…
* * * * *
hey, Karen sent me a Dear John email after I wrote MAINSTREAM AVANT-GARDE? [see below] she made it extremely clear that she didn't want to hear from me again. She was not pleased! Unlike Martha who thanked me... And a few years later wrote me that I had nailed it.
Mainstream Avant-Garde?
By
FRANK MOORE
December 28, 1996
I suppose this is a review of sorts. Two things evoke this review. First Martha Wilson of Franklin Furnace asked me to comment on the Furnace’s plans. The second event was our going to a Karen Finley reading [which cost $3 as opposed to $30 for a Finley performance….which I could not afford].
I have to start by saying I consider both Wilson and Finley powerful voices of the avant-garde. When other performance galleries were making artists create “acts” that would fit into “avant-garde” cabarets…fit in terms of both time and fashionable subject matter…Wilson at the Furnace was giving both artists and the art absolute freedom to perform magic…until THEY shut the Furnace down for “fire violations.” Karen and I were among the artists who enjoyed this freedom.
In other reviews, I have likened Karen’s poetry to Ginsberg’s, and her performances to Lenny Bruce’s in their intensity and laser commentary on the social injustices. Her poetry makes me cry. Her passions within her performances have transported me into very deep states of reality.
So it is always tragic to see figures like these get sucked, seduced, absorbed, tricked, bribed into “the mainstream.” It is tragic not only in personal terms for the individual artists, but in terms of the big picture. When an artist sets herself up as being an artist who goes beyond the normal frame, who tells the hard truths, who explores the unknown…not to be hip, or controversial, or to be interesting…but because that is how our tribal human being evolves, so it has to be done…when that kind of artist then goes after money, personal fame, and/or glamour while still claiming to be doing avant-garde art, it is denying society the real evolutionary function of the real avant-garde. It tells people, audiences and artists alike, that the avant-garde is just a branch of the entertainment complex with the same rules, goals, reality as television, rock music, Hollywood, and sports. This is like telling people a can of Slim Fast is a balanced meal of real food. It is a lie. And the scary dangerous thing is artists are buying/selling this lie.
Why am I on this rant? About a year or two ago, Wilson sent out a mass mailing in which she defended art [maybe to funders] as a profitable industry which pulls money, people, and jobs into cities. [True…if you want to make a lot of money, buy property where artists live/create now to sell to the yuppies when they discover the area!] This logic is a very steep, slippery slope indeed. The first glaring danger of this commercialized logic is art, according to this logic, which is not profitable or sellable is not and can not be successful worthwhile art! [Hey, ain’t that the American way?] I am sure Wilson does not believe this.
Although another mass mailing I received from her in November [I have been mulling it over until now] makes me wonder if she has fallen down that slope into believing the lie. Avant-garde art is art that tells the truth, explores the taboos, pushes the limits. Obviously this kind of art, if it is honest, can not be focused outwardly. Historically, often “The People” [who are not the same thing as “the mainstream”] have identified with the avant-garde because it was telling the truth about their lives. The focus of the avant-garde should always be on telling the truth, not on popularity polls and bottom lines. The focus of the avant-garde has been, and should be, on doing art that is as “pure” as possible…not on mass media entertainment of reaching as many people as possible by shaping “the product” to that goal.
In her letter, Martha refers to the avant-garde art as “once unpopular work…formerly at the non-profit fringe”…art that Franklin Furnace, according to the letter, has groomed for 20 years to get it ready for the mainstream…and now “Franklin Furnace is in a position to lead the avant-garde into the mainstream…” This hurts my head and heart. It is as if Martha does not see her own historical contribution of giving daring art a home. Instead, she tries to take credit for gravity and decay. The mainstream entertainment, by it sheer mass, has always sucked artists out of the fringe, the underground. That is just gravity. In reality, it takes a lot to enter, and to stay in, the underground. The underground is where the real freedom and the real ability to change society are to be found. This is why artists CHOOSE the underground instead of the mainstream. This is also why, when an artist is pulled into the mainstream, this freedom and ability decay. In my own career, I have worked very hard to stay in the underground…this work has been hard precisely because some of the pieces have turned out to be “popular” [whatever that means!]…attracting the mainstream sharks.
The mainstream has always tried to create a fake avant-garde with fake controversies, fake taboos, fake “hipness,” etc. to give the marks a controlled fun-ride through a Disneyland to keep them away from the real edge of life. This is because the powers-that-be can not control or exploit what is in the real avant-garde.
All of this is business as usual…and doesn’t scare me.
What does scare me is that someone like Martha bought into it and is becoming a producer of it! Her letter read like a bad Saturday Night Live skit. She is selling Franklin Furnace to get money to match a $100,000 n.e.a. challenge grant. With this money, and by teaming up with the corporate and media America, Franklin Furnace will be a “content provider for new media” that sniffs out “emerging alternative artists.” [Emerging from where to where? Alternative to what?] These artists and their art must be suitable to be packaged as “alternative comedy [a.k.a. performance art.]” The letter tells us this new alternative comedy will be “funny, yet provocative.” There will be a half-hour t.v. show of this. Plus they will produce short pieces to be aired “through” Saturday Night Live [as if that show has been cutting edge, or even funny, in the past 15 years] and MTV [with its history of censorship!] Moreover they are seeking other ways of giving “audiences a glimpse of the avant-garde world” [whatever the hell that is!] “in an entertaining and easily consumable fashion”…like avant-garde artist trading cards…funded by Philip Morris Companies!
The marketing phrase “alternative comedy [a.k.a. performance art]” is very damaging to performance art because it trivializes art. In fact it avoids “art” all together, selling “alternative comedy” as a weird, consumable form of entertainment which will give you a laugh for your buck. This is not what performance art is. Performance art is the performing/doing/experiencing the act of art. It is going on a physical journey into the unlimited realm of art. Sometimes this journey may be funny or entertaining. But these are not the true goals or rewards. The suggestion [promotion] that these are the rewards of art results in denying people, including the artists, the real full freeing experience of art.
All of this is selling the art, the artists, and the audience way short. I am not questioning Martha’s personal commitment to the real avant-garde art. But realistically such art can not exist in such an environment that she is envisioning. Moreover it is misunderstanding the new media such as the internet and zines. In these media, artists can relate to their audiences directly without middlemen, without compromises, without limiting concepts such as “mainstream”…all for very little money…so why sell out?
But this concept of “alternative comedy” is disturbing. I guess the Karen Finley reading was an example of alternative comedy. She read from her parody of Martha Stewart [why bother?] which she obviously wrote just to fulfill a book deal. The reading was empty schtick, a passionless exercise in cleverness with no content or message. The audience responded with reflex laughter, like a laugh track. The problem was Karen was trying to be an entertainer, a comedian. Karen is not a comedian or entertainer. That is not her function. Her function is to inspire, confront, transmute…to tell the truth with passion. That is why people come to her. When she does not do that, the people are not fulfilled. When she ended her act, the people just sat there numb. Then I asked Karen to read her very deep, very moving poem “Black Sheep”… I just happened to have a copy of it with me. As she read it, magic, life, and power started flowing through her body and out into the audience, uplifting them. When she finished reading, people stood up and clapped…because this was why they came.
Oh, by the way, do you consider yourself mainstream? Do you want to be?
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
oh, well!
tonight we got a freaked out skype video phone call from the teacher in North Carolina... The one who was glowing after I talked with her class Monday. Basically she was trying to get me to agree to limits when I did her class again! I'm flattered! I am still that dangerous... Just by talking over the phone... No nudity, no physical play, etc. just deep discussion! Very dangerous! If I was willing to limit the work, I would be rich! But I always go for direct unlimited communication on all levels. The time bomb in her mind was my asking a student who was into social Justice if she would be willing, knowing what she knows about my work, to do a private performance with me via skype... She's interested in how Eroplay can create change. She was willing.
This was what set the teacher off. In the real world the odds of the private performance actually happening is small, etc. but the possibly of it triggered all kinds of issues of control in the teacher!
Also about every five years or so the art world /university try to digest /consume the work I do... To make it safe. This is that!
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
This was what set the teacher off. In the real world the odds of the private performance actually happening is small, etc. but the possibly of it triggered all kinds of issues of control in the teacher!
Also about every five years or so the art world /university try to digest /consume the work I do... To make it safe. This is that!
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
going beyond the normal boxes
hi, Shannon. What you are going through is quite common in my work. In my performances, people commonly enjoy themselves during the performance, get inspired and high by the new opening of possibilities. This glow may last for a time. But commonly the next day when the old boxes try to deny the new possibilities, conflict occurs. This conflict can either lead to growth or reinforce the old boxes. This reaction was so common that I started putting the below sign on the door of the performance.
Goings On
Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc. "GOINGS ON"
CONTENTS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Adrianne Wortzel, FF Fundwinner 2003-04, launches Eliza Redux
2. G. H. Hovagimyan, FF Alumn, at Pace Digital Gallery, Manhattan, April
7-May 1
3. Jim Costanzo, FF Member, on Wall Street, Manhattan, April 1
4. Quimetta Perle, FF Alumn, at Central Library, Brooklyn, opening April 7
5. Alicia Grullon, FF Alumn, in Manhattan, thru March 2010
6. Frank Moore, FF Alumn, now online
7. Kate Gilmore, FF Alumn, Spring 2009 events
8. Annie Lanzillotto, FF Alumn, at Smalls Jazz Club, Manhattan, April 11
9. Dominic Alleluia, FF Alumn, at Pas Positas College, Livermore, CA,
opening April 3
10. Jessica Hagedorn, FF Alumn, at New York University, Manhattan, April 14
11. Donna Henes, FF Alumn, in Brooklyn, April 11
12. Laura Parnes, FF Alumn, in The New York Times, March 27
13. Sol LeWitt, FF Alumn, in Berlin, Germany, opening April 18
14. Claudia DeMonte, FF Alumn, at Jan Colle Gallery, Ghent, Belgium, opening
April 26
15. Joseph Nechvatal, FF Alumn, now online
16. Marina Abramovic, FF Alumn, at Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana,
Cuba, thru April 30
17. Mendi Lewis Obadike, FF Alumn, now online
18. Edward Gomez, FF Alumn, launches new website
19. Dynasty Handbag, FF Alumn, at Cakeshop, Manhattan, April 1, and more
20. Heike Roms, FF Alumn, receives Performance Art research grant
21. Symposium on media and digital art, Guggenheim Museum, Manhattan, May 1
22. Lance Horne, Meow Meow, FF Alumns, in Manhattan, April
23. Linda Montano, FF Alumn, not in Montreal, and more
24. Alyson Pou, FF Alumn, at South Street Seaport Museum, Manhattan, thru
April 19
25. Vernita Nemec, FF Alumn, at Judson Church, Manhattan, April 20
26. Valerie Tevere, Angel Nevarez, FF Alumns, at Pratt Manhattan Gallery,
April 1
27. Micki Watanabe Spiller, FF Alumn, at Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville,
thru April 15
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6. Frank Moore, FF Alumn, now online
Video of the interview I did with the N.Y.C. public access channel in 1987 in Annie Sprinkle's apartment is now online at http://www.eroplay.com/intimatetheater/intimate.html This needs a set up. The interview took place the day after the performance we did at The Sixth Sense Galley in the East Village and we had done our first performance at Franklin Furnace the week before. The crew was at the Sixth Sense and did an impromptu interview at the end of the performance as Veronica Vera and I sat nude together. It was a great ending to the three hour performance. But they were not the only film crew filming that performance. The other crew was for the film, MONDO NEW YORK.
I got in that film by a fluke. They were thinking about having Annie in it. She was in my cast for Franklin Furnace. She talked me up to them. They decided to film my performance. I made sure she was in my cast. They wanted to film my Franklin Furnace piece. But that was a five hour performance with over fifteen people in the cast. A complex ritual. I had experienced big movie crews shooting my OUTRAGEOUS BEAUTY REVUE in the late Seventies and how they change [to put it nicely!] the experience in the ritual. So I did not let them shoot at the Furnace. But we set up another performance at Annie's friend's intimate gallery for them to shoot. This was a good call! As we were setting up for the show, the film's director and the producer tried to bully Linda into changing things for the film. She just directed them to talk to me. I matched their N.Y.C. energy and had them carefully eating out of my hands. They agreed to no bright lights. But then when the performance started, they blasted the lights, washing out the slides projected upon the nude bodies, not to mention the dreamlike quality of the performance. But after ten minutes they turned off the lights and packed up and left. So the audience settled back for the three hour experience! When you watch that movie, you now know the real story! Back to the interview. For years I had been pissing off "the art world" by warning that the political correctness pressure put on artists by other artists would invite outside censorship. This was years before Senator Helms targeted us artists for doing "obscene" work. Funny, it was the script of my Franklin Furnace performance that got me on the targeted list. Reporters from a N.Y.C. Moonies' newspaper got into the Franklin Furnace's archive looking for sexy hot pieces for their expose on the n. e. a. And they found my script! Not only erotic, not only nudity, but shamanistic! Also funny. In the next room Annie was interviewing Karen Finley for an adult magazine. So in the apartment that afternoon there were three of the original five Helms targeted performance artists. At the time Annie was seeing herself as just an adult star. Even when I predicted that she would become an important performance artist. It would be little more than a year before she would do her first one-person show. Karen was known as an underground artist. But it would take her a couple more years before she would break through to fame. By the way, it was Karen who got me the Franklin Furnace gig.
CONTENTS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Adrianne Wortzel, FF Fundwinner 2003-04, launches Eliza Redux
2. G. H. Hovagimyan, FF Alumn, at Pace Digital Gallery, Manhattan, April
7-May 1
3. Jim Costanzo, FF Member, on Wall Street, Manhattan, April 1
4. Quimetta Perle, FF Alumn, at Central Library, Brooklyn, opening April 7
5. Alicia Grullon, FF Alumn, in Manhattan, thru March 2010
6. Frank Moore, FF Alumn, now online
7. Kate Gilmore, FF Alumn, Spring 2009 events
8. Annie Lanzillotto, FF Alumn, at Smalls Jazz Club, Manhattan, April 11
9. Dominic Alleluia, FF Alumn, at Pas Positas College, Livermore, CA,
opening April 3
10. Jessica Hagedorn, FF Alumn, at New York University, Manhattan, April 14
11. Donna Henes, FF Alumn, in Brooklyn, April 11
12. Laura Parnes, FF Alumn, in The New York Times, March 27
13. Sol LeWitt, FF Alumn, in Berlin, Germany, opening April 18
14. Claudia DeMonte, FF Alumn, at Jan Colle Gallery, Ghent, Belgium, opening
April 26
15. Joseph Nechvatal, FF Alumn, now online
16. Marina Abramovic, FF Alumn, at Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana,
Cuba, thru April 30
17. Mendi Lewis Obadike, FF Alumn, now online
18. Edward Gomez, FF Alumn, launches new website
19. Dynasty Handbag, FF Alumn, at Cakeshop, Manhattan, April 1, and more
20. Heike Roms, FF Alumn, receives Performance Art research grant
21. Symposium on media and digital art, Guggenheim Museum, Manhattan, May 1
22. Lance Horne, Meow Meow, FF Alumns, in Manhattan, April
23. Linda Montano, FF Alumn, not in Montreal, and more
24. Alyson Pou, FF Alumn, at South Street Seaport Museum, Manhattan, thru
April 19
25. Vernita Nemec, FF Alumn, at Judson Church, Manhattan, April 20
26. Valerie Tevere, Angel Nevarez, FF Alumns, at Pratt Manhattan Gallery,
April 1
27. Micki Watanabe Spiller, FF Alumn, at Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville,
thru April 15
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6. Frank Moore, FF Alumn, now online
Video of the interview I did with the N.Y.C. public access channel in 1987 in Annie Sprinkle's apartment is now online at http://www.eroplay.com/intimatetheater/intimate.html This needs a set up. The interview took place the day after the performance we did at The Sixth Sense Galley in the East Village and we had done our first performance at Franklin Furnace the week before. The crew was at the Sixth Sense and did an impromptu interview at the end of the performance as Veronica Vera and I sat nude together. It was a great ending to the three hour performance. But they were not the only film crew filming that performance. The other crew was for the film, MONDO NEW YORK.
I got in that film by a fluke. They were thinking about having Annie in it. She was in my cast for Franklin Furnace. She talked me up to them. They decided to film my performance. I made sure she was in my cast. They wanted to film my Franklin Furnace piece. But that was a five hour performance with over fifteen people in the cast. A complex ritual. I had experienced big movie crews shooting my OUTRAGEOUS BEAUTY REVUE in the late Seventies and how they change [to put it nicely!] the experience in the ritual. So I did not let them shoot at the Furnace. But we set up another performance at Annie's friend's intimate gallery for them to shoot. This was a good call! As we were setting up for the show, the film's director and the producer tried to bully Linda into changing things for the film. She just directed them to talk to me. I matched their N.Y.C. energy and had them carefully eating out of my hands. They agreed to no bright lights. But then when the performance started, they blasted the lights, washing out the slides projected upon the nude bodies, not to mention the dreamlike quality of the performance. But after ten minutes they turned off the lights and packed up and left. So the audience settled back for the three hour experience! When you watch that movie, you now know the real story! Back to the interview. For years I had been pissing off "the art world" by warning that the political correctness pressure put on artists by other artists would invite outside censorship. This was years before Senator Helms targeted us artists for doing "obscene" work. Funny, it was the script of my Franklin Furnace performance that got me on the targeted list. Reporters from a N.Y.C. Moonies' newspaper got into the Franklin Furnace's archive looking for sexy hot pieces for their expose on the n. e. a. And they found my script! Not only erotic, not only nudity, but shamanistic! Also funny. In the next room Annie was interviewing Karen Finley for an adult magazine. So in the apartment that afternoon there were three of the original five Helms targeted performance artists. At the time Annie was seeing herself as just an adult star. Even when I predicted that she would become an important performance artist. It would be little more than a year before she would do her first one-person show. Karen was known as an underground artist. But it would take her a couple more years before she would break through to fame. By the way, it was Karen who got me the Franklin Furnace gig.
Well, that is the historical context for this interview. Enjoy!
* * * * *
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
Re: an interview from the past! (Harley Spiller)
FYI - We have a November 1987 copy of Velvet magazine in our file on “Intimate Cave” with lots of pictures and a story of the event. Harley aka Inspector Collector!
Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc.
Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc.
* * * * *
great, Harley! Could you xerox, scan, or whatever they do now and send it to me?
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
* * * * *
I’ll check and see what’s best – this may take a few days to get organized – I have to arrange to be SEEN scanning such great literature!
Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc.
* * * * *
great, Harley! Ah, yes! It will cement your reputation!
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
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