Before
jetting of on Swiss Air to Zurich Switzerland to teach a series of
Performance Art Workshops under the banner Framing The Freakazoid:
Doing-By-Doing at the ZhdK – The Zurich University of the Arts I
went to the fabelshaft birthday dinner party of decorative artist
Michael Dute the Konig von Wilmersdorf with Fearless Leader of CHEAP
Susi Su, Marcuse Siegelstein and Bruce”Judy”LaBruce. The liquor
and food was forever flowing and the atmosphere divoon. Herr Dute
divides his time between San Francisco and Berlin and his glorious
flat is a testicular testament to his skills as an artiste
extroidinaire. Walking through his exalted threshold you enter the
majick of ancient China, Pompeii or eighteenth-century France. The
apartment is a joy to behold with luscious murals and glam
rococo-inspired wall panels. Michael's home also serves as a
Gertrude Stein style salon to some of the most fascinating habitues
of Berlin high society. I was enthralled with his lovesexy and
sophisticated lady friends and dapper gentlemen callers. Scene and
heard: DL Alvarez who is the old San Francisco buddy of Michael
Dute', Brian McBride(Michael's boyfriend) Marc, Michael's friend and
flat mate, Christoph a famed historian, Ida Mullerr the famed set &
costume designer and performer, Jens the charming old school tante
from Braunschweig who lives in Michael's building and works at Mr.
B., Marta the LA born Berlin based artist who comes from Mexican film
producing royalty and studied at Art Center with Buckminster Fuller
and a the famed Hashish Baeckerin to the shtars known for her
excellent psychedlic cakes and brownies.
Joining
me in Switzerland was the Love Camel Andrea Novarin. I had taught
several times before in the 1990s and early 2000s at the ZhdK. Of
course then it was at a different location and under a different
name. The school merged in 2008 or so with the School of Art and
Design and the School of Music Drama and Dance, and is affiliated
with the Museum of Design. Rosina Kuhn the famous portraiturist
whose son Cyril Kuhn was one of my students when I tag team taught at
California Institute of the Arts with Ron Athey had first brought me
to the school when I was doing some gigs in Milano, Turin and Bologna
in the mid 1990s. Its during this time I first met Love Camel.
Another one of my former students from Cal Arts Bea Schlingelhoff who
is now in charge of the art program at ZhdK, and would like me to
come back next year and teach a performance art seminar. On this
trip I was invited by dimunitive British scholar Ian Rodney
Wooldridge who was fascilitating an MA Symposium that I took part in.
Also invited was the Canuckian artist Steve Reinke, the beautiful
young Brit James Richards who lives in Berlin, and reminds me of Mike
Skinner of The Streets, the gorgeous soft spoken Tibisi artist
Ramaya Tegegne, Paul Pieroni, Brigitte Daetwyler, and Hannah Black.
I was shocked and surprised that there were so many people at my
artist talk. Lots of cute young kids came up to me to ask questions
during the wine reception after the talk. One 20 year old boy a
juicy mulatto mix of Dominican and Austrian had a spectacular mane of
light brown curly hair.
Love
Camel and I were housed at the Rothaus Hotel a former bordello in the
red light district. Its surprising that there is still a funky area
in such a boutique city as Zurich. Back in 2007 when CHEAP Blacky
played at the Gessner Allee Theatre we stayed at the Rothaus. The
wonderful secretaire of the MA department Miss Claudia remembered me
when Rosina Kuhn had brought me to the school back in the 90s. The
tech director of the department was a hunky American fellow named
Philip Matesic exuding dinosaur dicque energy and looked like a
younger, more muscular version of the writer James Fry.
I
was taken to a fab dinner of traditional Swiss food at the
atmospheric Alpenrose boite. Ian, Steve and some of my male students
were all going to an underwear party at some gay bar, but I was way
too exhausted to join them.