In 1970, in the city of Hull in England, an artistic collective was born that was about to challenge the world of art. COUM Transmissions was led by the artists Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti who worked on performance that challenged the limits imposed on themes such as violence, sex and pornography. When they turned to music, they created the band Throbbing Gristle, precursor to industrial electronica. This is a documentary about their work.
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In the year that the world saw the disappearance, at the age of 70, of Genesis P-Orridge, founder of the pioneers COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle, who assumed himself as a “pandrogynous” being following a peculiar body fusion surgical intervention with his wife , this film tells, for the first time, the history of these bands through the words of the elements themselves, for the fisrt time. The story of a group of artists and musicians who worked in different combinations over many years and who were at the origin of industrial music in England in the 70s. To fuse art with life and archive complete personal liberation – at whatever the cost – was the single idea. They adopted new identities, pushed art to its limits and invented a new genre of music, confronting assumptions aboux sex, morality and the dark side of human nature. Their work caused outrage and media scandal and politician denounced them as “the wreckers of civilization”. A film about an indisputable milestone in the genesis of industrial music and in the arts in general. (Helena César)
In the year that the world saw the disappearance, at the age of 70, of Genesis P-Orridge, founder of the pioneers COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle, who assumed himself as a “pandrogynous” being following a peculiar body fusion surgical intervention with his wife , this film tells, for the first time, the history of these bands through the words of the elements themselves, for the fisrt time. The story of a group of artists and musicians who worked in different combinations over many years and who were at the origin of industrial music in England in the 70s. To fuse art with life and archive complete personal liberation – at whatever the cost – was the single idea. They adopted new identities, pushed art to its limits and invented a new genre of music, confronting assumptions aboux sex, morality and the dark side of human nature. Their work caused outrage and media scandal and politician denounced them as “the wreckers of civilization”. A film about an indisputable milestone in the genesis of industrial music and in the arts in general. (Helena César)
