Queer communion : Ron Athey / edited by Amelia Jones and Andy Campbell.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Jones, Amelia, editor.

Campbell, Andy, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Athey, Ron--Criticism and interpretation.

Athey, Ron.

Performance art--Great Britain.

Performance art.

Performance artists--Great Britain.

Performance artists.

Homosexuality in art.

Criticism and interpretation.

Great Britain.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xvii, 439 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Bristol : Intellect Books, 2020.

Summary:

Ron Athey is one of the most important, prolific, and influential performance artists of the past four decades. A singular example of lived creativity, his radical performances are odds with the art worlds and art marketplaces that have increasingly dominated contemporary art and performance art over the period of his career.Queer Communion, an exploration of Athey's career, refuses the linear narratives of art discourse and instead pays homage to the intensities of each mode of Athey's performative practice and each community he engages. Emphasizing the ephemeral and largely uncollectible nature of his work, the book places Athey's own writing at its center, turning to memoir, memory recall, and other modes of retrieval and narration to archive his performances. In addition to documenting Athey's art, ephemera, notes, and drawings, the volume features commissioned essays, concise "object lessons" on individual objects in the Athey archive, and short testimonials by friends and collaborators by contributors including Dominic Johnson, Amber Musser, Julie Tolentino, Ming Ma, David Getsy, Alpesh Patel, and Zackary Drucker, among others. Together they form Queer Communion, a counter history of contemporary art.

Contents:

Writing Athey p. 26

Writing Athey, Athey's Writings p. 27 / Amelia Jones

Previously Published p. 30

Unless otherwise noted, text entirely by Ron Athey

"Premature Ejaculation written by Rozz [Williams] and Ron [Athey]," c. 1981/ c. 2000; to be published in Ewa Wojciak book on No Mag, 2020 p. 31

Brochure for Walker Art Center (at Patrick's Cabaret) p. 33

"Polemic of Blood: Ron Athey on the 'Post-AIDS' Body," Walker Art Gallery website, posted March 19, 2015, https://walkerart.org/magazine/ron-athey-blood-polemic-post-aids-body p. 55

"Gifts of the Spirit," Ben Is Dead issue #25 (Los Angeles, 1995), 41-45 p. 59

"Raised in the Lord: Revelations at the Knee of Miss Velma," LA Weekly (June 30, 1995), 20-25 (cover story) p. 64

"Deliverance: Introduction, Foreword, Description, and Selected Test," Acting on AIDS: Sex, Drugs and Politics, ed. Joshua Oppenheimer and Helena Reckitt (London: Serpent's Tail, 1997), 430-44 p. 75

"The Catholic Envy of Vena Mae," Unnatural Disasters: Recent Writings from the Golden State, ed. Nicole Panter (San Diego: Incommunicado Press, 1996) p. 85

"Trixie Assigns Ron Athey Essay Questions," "ROD'N'BOB," Infected Faggot Perspectives, Los Angeles, issue #15 (c. 1996?), 4-5, 15, 17 p. 91

"Ron Athey's Dissections: A Tribute to Griffith Park," Honcho (December 1997), 68-71 p. 97

"Ron Athey's Dissections: Split Personality, or So Many Men," Honcho (January 1998), 65-66 p. 101

"Ron Athey's Dissections: Flirting with the Far Right," Honcho (June 1997), 77-78 p. 105

"Rozz Williams, 1963-1998" [Obituary], LA Weekly (April 8,1998); text available online: https://www.laweekly.com/content/printView/2129452 p. 108

David Wood T. G., "Ron Athey Interview," Body Probe: Torture Garden 2, ed. David Wood (London: Creation Books, December 1, 1999), 129-30, 132 p. 110

Lydia Lunch and Gene Gregorits, "The Violent Disbelief of Ron Athey," Sex and Guts, ed. Gene Gregorits and Lydia Lunch (Los Angeles: Phony Lid Books, 2003), 242-50 p. 117

"totally Rad experience within a totally Rad Party," Radical People 1 n. 2 (2015), 38-39 p. 142

Untitled ["Day Two of the 10 year cycle of. Remission. Dual-diagnosis "], The Golden Fool, ed. Tristene Roman and Luka Fisher (Betep International, June 6, 2016), n.p. p. 145

"I'm with the Band: Sound Design at the Intersection of Sex Clubs, Drance, and Electro," to be published with the Chris Cruse re-release of Drance's "Latex Love," from the 1991 album Hermetically Sealed, 2020 p. 148

Unpublished p. 152

From the Ron Athey archive

Miscellaneous notes, handwritten performance script, and sketches relating to performances with Rozz Williams, Premature Ejaculation, 1981 p. 153

"I hate everybody when I feel like I'm on the outside," c. 1980s; typescript with handwritten emendations p. 162

"Angry Pain," handwritten diary page torn out of pad, c. late 1980s p. 164

"Letter #1 / to a pubescent Holy rolling Ronnie Athey," handwritten page torn out of notebook; AA exercise, c. 1986-87 p. 166

"There used to come that point... a lump of numb meat," handwritten notes; recovery writing, late 1980s p. 167

"The Perfect Gentleman," c. 1991; handwritten notes from session with Cross (aka Clayton Cross, the former Crystal Meth from the Speed Queens), for a Fetish Ball event p. 170

"Radical Artists and Hardedge Hardcore Queers... Dyke women, they ground me," c. 1992; handwritten diaristic musings on rose-embellished stationery p. 174

"After years of deep depression," handwritten note, c. 1992, single sheet torn out of pad, relating to tattoo dream: text working through "suicide bed/tattoo salvation" scene, 4 Scenes in a Harsh Life p. 176

"In the midst of my inevitable self destruction," handwritten note on yellow lined paper, torn out of pad, c. 1992; first page of sheaf of notes relating to tattoo dream: text working through "suicide bed/tattoo salvation" scene, 4 Scenes in a Harsh Life p. 177

"I started off on a destructive binge...," c. 1992 (actual text for "suicide bed/tattoo salvation" scene, 4 Scenes in a Harsh Life) p. 178

"Stations of the Martyr," handwritten notes for 1992 version of Martyrs and Saints at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) p. 180

"Here's the laying out of the symbology, a dissection, of a Ron Athey performance," typescript with sketch at the end of wrapped body and the handwritten text, "I prophesize a year of total sensory deprivation," c. 1994; automatic writing experiment leading towards Martyrs and Saints p. 181

"My life is going by so quick," typescript with handwritten amendations, c. 1993-94 (text working through ideas for 4 Scenes in a Harsh Life, including Butch Dehner, aka George Rausch, script) p. 183

"There's so many ways to say hallelujah," c. 1994, handwritten notes for 4 Scenes in a Harsh Life p. 185

"There's so many ways to say Hallelujah/ The dominant male evangelist," c. 1994, handwritten notes in spiral sketchpad for 4 Scenes in a Harsh Life p. 186

"Walker," typescript of performance script for Patrick's Cabaret show of 4 Scenes in a Harsh Life, co-sponsored by the Walker Art Gallery, 1994 p. 190

"Once in a while I realize that most of the world hates faggots," typescript of musing on AIDS experience, c. 1995 p. 192

Miscellaneous typed pages of Judas Cradle script, c. 2003-4, showing appropriated text from Jean Genet's Prisoner of Love p. 195

"Queen Mary Artist Lecture," typescript showing visuals and spoken text, c.2010 p. 199

Gifts of the Spirit scene sketches (1-3) and sheets of automatic writing collages (4-13), miscellaneous handwritten (14), London, c. 2010 p. 202

"1. Psychic Death / 2. Where is the soul?.... Why did you come here?," handwritten notes from strategy meeting with Empress Stah in Rindelsham Forest, UK, c. 2012; Athey had been hired to direct her November 2012 Spill Festival cabaret show p. 207

The Alchemist: Ron Athey p. 219 / Lisa Teasley

Anatomy of a Revival p. 224 / Karen Gonzalez Rice

The Right to Bleed in Public: On Premature Ejaculation p. 232 / Leon J. Hilton

"A Poetry of Meaningful Experience": Miss Velma Jaggers's Stagecraft, Fisting, and Ron Athey's Miraculous Acts p. 239 / Andy Campbell

Ron Athey Rolls Deep p. 253 / Lisa Newman

The Beauty of the Dork p. 261 / Vaginal Davis and Ron Athey, reprint from LA Weekly (June 13, 2001); http://www.laweekly.com/news/the-beauty-of-the-dork-2133456

Big brother/big sister p. 264 / Cesar Padilla

AIDS, Athey, and Culture War p. 269 / Jonathan D. Katz

An Unruly Archive By Each of Us Towards Each of Us... p. 273 / Julie Tolentino

Father Daughter Love p. 286 / Zackary Drucker

Athey-ism p. 290 / Bruce Labruce, revised version of "Athey-ism, Collaboration, and Hustler White," in Pleading in the Blood: The Art and Performances of Ron Athey, ed. Dominic Johnson (Bristol: Intellect Press, and London: Live Art Development Agency, 2013), 118-123.

Divine Fire: Ron Athey in Europe p. 294 / Dominic Johnson

The Light of Night p. 304 / Lia Gangitano

Object Lessons p. 310

Codpiece p. 311 / Amelia Jones

HIV Lifecycle Model p. 314 / Andy Campbell

Honcho p. 317 / David Getsy

"Rod 'n' Bob" (Arrested Intimacies of the Flesh) p. 320 / Amber Jamilla Musser

Leigh Bowery Cape p. 323 / Alpesh Kantilal Patel

Resonate/Obliterate (or, Untitled [Dear Ron]) p. 327 / Ming-Yuen S. Ma

"Raised in the Lord" p. 331 / Jennifer Doyle

General Checklist p. 336 / Amelia Jones

Religion, Speaking in Tongues, Family/ 1961-1980 p. 338

Music and Queer Club Scenes, Los Angeles and Beyond/1976-1983, 1990s p. 346

Body (as) Art, Performance Art/1980-present p. 368

Art and Martyrdom: Performance, AIDS, the "Culture Wars"/1990s p. 382

Literature, Opera, Theater/1990-2018 p. 400

Communion: Friendships, Caretaking, Love, and Loss/c. 1961-ongoing p. 410

Ron Athey Timeline p. 417 / Ana Briz and Andy Campbell.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contains:

Athey, Ron. Works. Selections.

ISBN:

9781789380941

1789380944

OCLC:

1122871427