Monty Cantsin
Monty Cantsin is a multiple identity that is open to everyone. Developed as an "open pop star" from Mail Art , it later became closely related to Neoism and was used there primarily in performance art. Cantsin was the forerunner of other multiple identities such as Karen Eliot and Luther Blissett .
history
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The name Monty Cantsin was invented in 1978 by critic, actionist, and mail art artist David Zack . He took up the idea of the multiple and applied it to the artist himself. It should not only be possible to reproduce the work of art, but also the artist.
Cantsin served as the stage pseudonym for the Latvian-born poet and singer Maris Kundzins . Monty Cantsin also alludes to Martial Canterel, the hero of the novel in Raymond Roussel's “ Locus Solus ”, and to the Californian performance artist Monte Cazazza . In addition, the name can be read as a play on words on “Monty can't sing” and, in allusion to religious free-thinker groups who operated collectively under the name of Jesus Christ or of saints , as “Monty can ' t sin ”(“ Monty cannot sin ”).
According to Zack, Monty Cantsin should be an "open pop star ". In a philosophy that partially anticipated free software and open source , everyone should be able to appear in Monty Cantsin's name, increase his fame and share it collectively. Cantsin was supposed to question the concepts of authorship and identity .
Zack's call to call himself Monty Cantsin was followed by various European and North American performance artists in the 1980s . Among them, particularly influential in 1979, was the Hungarian - Canadian performance artist Istvan Kantor , who fused the name with himself and Neoism. Kantor equipped Cantsin with a characteristic fantasy uniform for stage appearances: breeches , narrow tie, leather jacket, red soldier's hat, a badge with a two-pointed arrow.
As an identity that was shared by all neoists, Monty Cantsin transformed from a “pop star” to a radical identity experiment in everyday life. At the neoist Apartment Festivals (APTs) this experiment experienced its often extremist increase. At the same time, the original pop star concept lived on in a series of electro pop and industriala albums and performances, most of which Istvan Kantor was behind.
Later multiple names like Karen Eliot, Luther Blissett and Michael K were inspired by Monty Cantsin , but consciously avoided his identification with real people. Karen Eliot was conceived as a mere signature, Blissett and K as media phantoms.
A detailed bibliography on Cantsin can be found in Simon Ford's exhibition catalog Smile Classified , which accompanied an exhibition on the SMILE magazine of the National Art Library in the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1992 .
Publications (selection)
(as editor): Neoist Book, Canada, 1984.
Remarks
- ↑ a b c Cynthia Carr: On edge: performance at the end of the twentieth century Wesleyan University Press, 2008 ISBN 0819568880 p. 106
- ↑ Oliver Marchart : "Neo-Dadaistischer Retro-Futurismus" ( Memento of the original from January 14, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Tina Klopp: The artist phenomena of the neoists ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , BR-Online June 6, 2011
- ↑ a b Marco Deseriis: Lots of Money Because I am many: The Luther Blissett Project and the Multiple-Use Strategy Name in: Begüm Özden Firat, Aylin Kuryel: Cultural Activism: Practices, dilemmas and Possibilities Rodopi, 2011 ISBN 9042029811 P. 71
- ↑ Simon Ford: The realization and suppression of the situationist international: an annotated bibliography AK Press, 1995 ISBN 1873176821 p. 95
- ↑ http://www.neoism.info/neoist_book.pdf (accessed April 7, 2014).
