Editing COUM Transmissions (section)

{{Short description|British music and performance art collective}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2014}}'''COUM Transmissions''' {{IPAc-en|k|uː|m}} was a [[music]] and [[performance art]] collective who operated in the [[United Kingdom]] from 1969 through to 1976. The collective was influenced by the [[Dada]] and [[surrealism]] artistic movements, the writers of the [[Beat Generation]], and [[underground music]].<ref>Sypdeee Gasmantell, ''Conscience Zine''.</ref> COUM were openly confrontational and subversive, challenging aspects of conventional [[British society]]. Founded in [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]], [[Yorkshire]], by [[Genesis P-Orridge]], other prominent early members included [[Cosey Fanni Tutti]] and Spydeee Gasmantell (also at school with Genesis P-Orridge). Part-time members included [[Tim Poston]], Brook Menzies, Haydn Robb, Les (Reverend Lelli) Maull, Ray Harvey, John (Jonji) Smith, Foxtrot Echo, Fizzy Paet, and John Gunni Busck (John Lacey). Late-joining member [[Peter Christopherson|Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson]], together with P-Orridge and Tutti went on to found the pioneering [[industrial music|industrial]] band [[Throbbing Gristle]] in 1976.
[[File:COUM_Transmissions_logo.jpg|thumb|right|COUM Transmissions logo]]
'''COUM''' (an acronym of Cosmic Organicism of the Universal Molecular)<ref>[https://autre.love/interviewsmain/2020/3/28/angelic-bodies-hans-ulrich-obrist-interviews-genesis-breyer-p-orridge] Angelic Bodies: Hans Ulrich Obrist Interviews Genesis Breyer P-Orridge March 28, 2020</ref> had a rotating membership, and included both [[intellectual]] and [[Crime|criminal]] elements and existed formally from 1969 until 1976. In that year, P-Orrige and Tutti exhibited at London's [[Institute of Contemporary Arts]] in a show called ''Prostitution'', which consisted of explicit photographs of lesbians, assemblages of rusty knives, syringes, bloodied hair, used sanitary towels, press clippings, and photo documentation of COUM performances in Milan and Paris. There was a lot of outrage expressed by London newspapers and UK politicians, including Tory MP [[Nicholas Fairbairn]], who referred to COUM as the "wreckers of Western civilization". However, memberships to the ICA increased sharply as a result of the COUM show.<ref>Walker, John. (10 August 2009). [http://www.artdesigncafe.com/Cosey-Fanni-Tutti-Genesis-P-Orridge-John-A-Walker-Art-and-Outrage-ADP-1-3-2009 "Cosey Fanni Tutti & Genesis P-Orridge in 1976 - Media frenzy, ''Prostitution''-style / Excerpts from ''Art and outrage''"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110000847/http://www.artdesigncafe.com/Cosey-Fanni-Tutti-Genesis-P-Orridge-John-A-Walker-Art-and-Outrage-ADP-1-3-2009 |date=10 January 2010 }}, ''Art Design Publicity''. Retrieved 23 January 2010.</ref>

The last official COUM performances and art shows took place in 1976. Around that time, P-Orridge proclaimed to be through with performance art. Tutti, on the other hand, felt she had only just begun. Though she feels the name COUM to be "tainted" now and unusable, she has been known to say her individual projects are still a part of the COUM family of work.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} For a while, she operated a website at COUM.co.uk.