Avant-garde from Below

Clemens Marschall’s book Avant-garde from Below: Transgressive Performance from Iggy Pop to Joe Coleman and GG Allin is an account, through the 20th century and beyond, of a dangerous bastardisation of punk spirit and avant-garde theory. Three very unique characters trace a line through this history of precarious transgression in the fringes of popular culture: Iggy Pop, who was punk before punk; Joe Coleman, who distanced himself from the then-existing punk scene; and GG Allin, who died for what he thought was punk, thus putting the final nail in the coffin of the ‘avant-garde from below’.

In this book, the story of confrontational performance art is not only told by the protagonists themselves, but also by people who are usually in the background: promoters, editors, partners, friends – and enemies. It includes four extensive chapters that provide a historical and cultural context, as well as never before published photos of and in-depth interviews with: V. Vale (RE/Search) / Ron Turner (Last Gasp) / Steve Mackay (The Stooges) / James Williamson (The Stooges) / Greil Marcus / Joe Coleman / Whitney Ward / Susanne Pfeffer / Sam ‘Sammytown’ McBride (Fang) / Kim Jones (Mudman) / Carlo McCormick / Monte Cazazza + Meri St. Mary / Mark Pauline (Survival Research Laboratories) / George Petros / Joe Sopkowicz / Richard Kern / Cynthia Carr / Chicken John Rinaldi (GG Allin & The Murder Junkies) / Jeri Cain Rossi / Steven Blush / Dr. Heathen Scum (The Mentors) / Mike Doskocil (Drunks with Guns) / John Aes-Nihil / Goddess Bunny / Glen Meadmore / Lisa Carver / Shaun + Kaleidoscope Partridge / Sondra London /…/…/…

Avant-garde from Below: Transgressive Performance from Iggy Pop to Joe Coleman and GG Allin also covers Sun Ra, William S. Burroughs, Vietnam, Altamont, Charles Manson, Leslie Van Houten, Lester Bangs, John Waters, Gena Rowlands, John Fare, John Wayne Gacy, Suicide, Lydia Lunch, Nick Zedd, Adam Parfrey, Smelly Mustafa, Psycodrama, Schrödinger’s cat, cannibalism, hoaxes and ISIS…
Where is the line between a prank and serious crime? Between art and terrorism? Which lines must be transgressed? Which taboos need to be broken? How low can you go?
Much lower.