NEXT SCREENING OF A WAY TO DIE

La prochaine projection du film “A WAY TO DIE : THE FILMS OF JOHN BALANCE AND PETER CHRISTOPHERSON ” aura lieu durant le festival lyonnais Les Hallucinations Collectives le 27 mars 2024 

The next screening of the film ‘A WAY TO DIE : THE FILMS OF JOHN BALANCE AND PETER CHRISTOPHERSON’ will take place during the Lyon festival Les Hallucinations Collectives on March 27, 2024. 

https://www.hallucinations-collectives.com/movies/a-way-to-die-the-films-of-john-balance-and-peter-christopherson/


A WAY TO DIE REVIEW

 THE UNSEEN FILMS OF PETER «Sleazy» CHRISTOPHERSON FINALLY REVEALED IN «A WAY TO DIE,»  DISCOVERED AT L’ÉTRANGE FESTIVAL
by Geoffroy Dedenis  for CHAOSREIGN.FR

It was one of the many gifts offered by L’Étrange Festival for its 29th edition: the never-before-seen films of one of the most secretly influential audiovisual creators of the second half of the 20th century, Peter «Sleazy» Christopherson.
It is only fair if it was at l’Étrange festival that we were able to discover A Way to Die for its world premiere, since Christopherson had played there in 2004, without Coil and under his own name, during a tribute to his friend Derek Jarman.
We could have missed it among the myriad oddities that gave the event its golden letters, but Pan be praised, Maxime Lachaud and Reivaks Timeless chose for their bouquet of black flowers, a title that Coil diehards could only hear: «A Way to Die: the Films of Peter Christopherson and John Balance».
Many must have rushed to reserve their seats before calling their colleagues and enjoining them to do the same. And rightly so, for these short films come straight from the black box left by Christopherson after his death - among a multitude of demos and unreleased material that fans snatch up with each posthumous release from the duo.
Pieces as rare as they are fascinating, which can be divided into two categories: «family» videos of friends and collaborators filmed by Balance/Sleazy in the early days of Coil.These include the glam-sanguinous Marc Almond, Genesis P-Orridge all smiles in his Manson phase, David Tibet before his Noddy period, alongside the recently deceased Monte Cazazza, more fashionable than ever with his morbid humor and his very 2023 penile exhibitions, without forgetting our two satyr-pythias co-authors of the images that interest us. We also finally got to see some of the figures that everyone had mentioned in their respective bios [cf. the Cosey/P-Orridge clash], notably the tragically famous Mr Sébastian who tattooed the whole happy little non-secte back in the day [cf. all the names above]. It’s nostalgic, but not too much so, as we know well enough that they were living against a world that was giving them a run for their money.
This pent-up anger, taking less from the expansive cry-slogan “no future” then in vogue and more from the bonze equipped with a can of gasoline, manifests itself in Sleazy’s truly plastic creations. And if anyone still doubts the relevance of his re-christened name, these few videos should convince them. Lust, blood and anything in between.
Photogenic stagings of onanistic suicides in which barely legal boys are transfigured into sadistic martyrs. Probably picked up from the streets where the crisis had left them, their angelic faces crowning dry bodies hung à la Pasolini. No dialogues or exchanges of any kind, Coil has never been in the explanatory, the explicit on the other hand… These black and white faces closed in on themselves, anesthetized by a deep melancholy, are enough. Nothing more to say, only to do, to stimulate, to excite, to mutilate the captive envelope of a perverse world. We see an incredible closeness between these films and Christopherson’s photographic work.
His photos, although objectively admitted as brilliant by his peers at Hypgnosis, were nevertheless already considered too extreme - and remain so today. Photos showing gitons post reformatory, their hands full of weapons, blades or guns as desired, strangling themselves, electrocuting themselves, cutting their veins… Before, during, after, death still, but sexy. Although having collaborated with Jarman, the Sleazy/Balance duo touches on something more difficult to know, darker, too dark for many, including the gay public. But as those concerned were able to stipulate in an interview, attributing the punchline to Marc Almond: “We might be friends of Judy, but we’re not friends of Elton». No need to ponder why these works have remained under seal for so long. We only have to remember the affair of the fake-snuff designed by Sleazy at the request of Coil addict - with big money - Trent Reznor for his EP Broken. lt ain’t easy being sleazy.
Fans will find more than what they’re worth and will be able to rejoice knowing that A Way to Die is a working copy and judging by the quality of the work assembled by Lachaud/Timeless, the night has not finished to shine. G.C.dD 



WORLD PREMIERE OF “A WAY TO DIE THE FILMS OF PETER CHRISTOPHERSON

From the program of L’ETRANGE FESTIVAL (Paris - France) :

A Way to Die - The Films of John Balance and Peter Christopherson

Maxime Lachaud & Reivaks Timeless 2023 France Industrial anthology 1h05mn Sound Black and white & color

WORLD PREMIERE WORK IN PROGRESS 

Founders of Coil, a cult entity of experimental industrial British music, Peter Christopherson and John Balance also directed films from 1970 to 1980, exhumed and restored by Timeless. Shot on 8 and 16mm film, these unclassifiable subversive marvels, unsettling and trippy, garbed in gay masochist aesthetics, are as much family films, performances, body horror and urban nightmares. They’re above all characterized by a tormented imagination under the sign of Eros and Thanatos…. with an irrepressible taste for death. There was an empty space next to Antony Balch, Derek Jarman and Jean Genet : it’s no longer vacant. Maxime Lachaud and Reivaks Timeless deliver a unique document, haunted by the duo’s music, with this one way journey into limbo, where they’re joined by the recently deceased Monte Cazazza, a founding father of the concept of industrial music.  


NAROK endorsed by James Franco

James Franco somewhere in Krung Thep Maha Nakhon - he is holding a copy of NAROK by Stephen Bessac and published by Timeless Edition in 2019 - sold out and may be reprinted soon as an expended edtion  

Photo by Stephen Bessac


PUNK ART HISTORY

Timeless edition is glad to have some photos from ‘Peter Christopherson Photograpy’ being featured in this new book ‘PUNK ART HISTORY’ written Marie Arleth Skov. 

In this book, the punk movement of the 1970s to early 1980s is examined as an art movement through archive research, interviews (Anna Banana, Jon Savage, Genesis P Orridge, …) , and art historical analysis.

Marie Arleth is a  Danish art historian and curator  living in Berlin.






THE NEW YORK YEARS 1971 - 1994 by Eric Kroll

Timeless Edition is pleased to present Eric Kroll’s
The New York Years 1971- 1994
.

500 pages of Eric Kroll’s photographs of New York City.
All collectors of Eric Kroll books and photographs should include this new
book.

There are two Eric Kroll books recognized as classic the
first being ”Sex Object” 1976. He has done more than a dozen books.
This should be the third classic.

The book is available in a standard and two special editions.

Below is what Kroll wrote in the introduction of the book to describe what he did :

“Some of the photos in this book were shot on assignment from Downtown art publications, like the Soho Weekly News or the East Village Eye, but most were self-generated.

There is no discipline in my life. No order. I used to think that chaos helps creativity—I’m not so sure about that anymore.
There were two intense periods of work, it seems, during the time I lived in New York: in the mid seventies, and around the time Leah, my eldest daughter, was born, in 1984. There are innumerable photographs from those decades and luckily some of the subject matter has made it easy to remember when and where certain pictures were shot. In the seventies: The Rolling Stones on a flatbed truck, rolling down Fifth Avenue, in May of 1975; partygoers at Bianca Jagger‘s birthday party at Studio 54 on May 2, 1977; the Dead Boys at CBGB’s on May 4, 1977; Blondie in rehearsal on October 18, 1977 (a date which was easy to recall, seeing as Reggie Jackson hit three home runs for the New York Yankees in a World Series on that very same day, and I remember that I kept leaving the rehearsal session to watch the home run replays on T.V.); Grace Jones performing at Studio 54 on December 29, 1977. In the eighties: John Sex at Danceteria in 1983; Robert Mapplethorpe at Robert Miller Gallery, and Dondi at Fun Gallery, in March of 1983; Madonna at Danceteria on October 3, 1983; Kenneth Anger in November of 1984. That whole year was busy because I also photographed Greer LanktonDavid WojnarowiczMike BidloRick ProlLuis FrangellaRichard Hambletonthe pier at Canal Street was teeming with artists—Kenny Scharf with his wife and daughter, Keith Haring, and Andy Warhol in his art car. And many, many more artists and musicians.”
Eric Kroll, AZ 2021

AVAILABLE HERE



NAROK exhibition Catalague

Co-published by Le Dernier Cri and Timeless Editions – 2022 – France

21 x 29 cm – 224 pages in colours – Soft cover

Forewords by Stephen Bessac.

Catalogue of the mindblowing and huge exhibition dedicated to the NAROK group exhibition done by Le Dernier Cri in Marseille from Nov 13, 2021 till Feb 13, 2022.

This exhibition was initiated by Pakito Bolino after being inspired by ‘NAROK’ photo book by Stephen Bessac and published by Timless Ed. in 2019.

This book shows the various reinterpretations of Thai hell’s gardens done by a myriad of artists from all over the world. To recreate those hellish visions, they used very different medias such as painting, drawing, screen printing, etching, sculptures, video,… This a state-of-the-art tribute to the mortuary cult and also to Thai popular culture dealing with that subject such as horror mangas.

Artists featured :

Zven Balslev, Andy Bolus,Ju Rictus, Julien Gardon, Fredox, Laetitia Brochier, Pakito Bolino, David Pujol, Mathieu Desjardins, Marc Brunier Mestas, Mathieu Desjardins, Dav Guedin + Monsterlune, Sylvie Renaud, Frederic Clavère, Sam Rictus, Lilas Mala, Gotier, Emre Orhun, Cha Kinon, Brulex, La S , Yan Taillefer, Craoman, Didier Poiraud,Dave 2000, Antoine Bernhart, le Li- quide de la Tête, Raniero, Val l’enclume, Tetsunori Tawaraya, Diego Lazzarin, Imiri Sakabashira, Patrick Jannin, Abraham diaz, Martes bathori, Samplerman, Scheibner, Dr Lakra, Tonio Camu- nas, Roger Benetti, Colin Raff, Antoine Dagata, gwen Tomahawk, louie Cordero, Matt Crabe, Pole K, Mats Stromberg, Ichiba Daisuke, Kinga Janiak, Ben Sanair, Hadrien Alvarz, Colette Ste- phens, Matti hagelberg, Celine Guichard, Olivier Texier, Nemoto, Andhoenk Irawan, Aleksandra ton de dyonisos, Ajarn Tode Kosumphisai, Dan Sudsakorn, Nils Bertho,Marc Caro,Nicolas fremion, ludovic levasseur,Evil ED, …

Limited to 666 copies

AVAILABLE HERE


Finissage de l’expo NAROK

End of the NAROK exhibition in presence of Stephen Bessac author of the eponym title book which inspired this event. 

A signature with Stephen Bessac took place in the Le Dernier Cri workshop and a small zine was proposed in very small  quantities as a preview of the forthcoming Hunting Asia titles. 


NAROK exhibition in Marseille

Timeless Ed. was proud to be involved in the NAROK group exhibition done by Le Dernier Cri in Marseille from Nov 13, 2021 till Feb 13, 2022.

This exhibition was initiated by Pakito Bolino after being inspired by ‘NAROK’ photo book by Stephen Bessac and published by Timless Ed. in 2019.


A Way to Die Exhibition at Chateau H (Fr)

Presentation text in french for the small exhibition at Chateau H in Saint Julia :

Peter Christopherson (1955-2010) était un artiste protéiforme qui a réalisé de nombreux vidéo clips commerciaux (Yes, Rage Against The Machine ou Nine Inch Nails) ainsi que de nombreuses pochettes de disques (Pink Floyd et Peter Gabriel) alors qu’il était membre du groupe de designer anglais Hipgnosis. Ses créations artistiques bien plus personnelles se sont révélées au travers de la musique électronique (Throbbing Gristle et Coil) et surtout dans la photographie. Peter Christopherson était avant tout un photographe qui a commencé très tôt dès le collège. Devenu adulte, son style s’est affirmé en travaillant des thématiques sombres et subversives. Son intérêt particulier (assez rares dans les années 70) pour les faits divers et les serial killers l’a entre autre emmené à réaliser une série intitulée « A Way To Die » représentant des scènes de crimes sordides et de suicides violents où se mêlent de manière assez troublantes horreur et érotisme. Les références aux Larmes d’Eros de George Bataille et aux Garçons Sauvages de William Burroughs sembleront évidentes tout comme les Giallo de Dario Argento ou Mario Bava.  




THE UNIVERSE IS A HAUNTED HOUSE

Timeless Editions have announced The Universe Is A Haunted House: COIL through their art and archives, a new 400-page full colour hardback book compiled from the personal archives of John Balance and Peter Christopherson.

Conceived not only as a showcase of Coil’s much-admired album artwork, but also to offer a rare glimpse into their world – and spanning some three decades of Coil’s distinguished career – the book offers the reader an abundance of artwork, photos, writings and other curiosities, much of which will never have been seen before.

The Universe Is A Haunted House: COIL through their art and archives is available for pre-order NOW,* only from Timeless Editions.







Hunting Asia volume 1 : Narok by Stephen Bessac



NAROK is a photobook by Stephen Bessac (Singer of the infamous French band Kickback) documenting his trips to the gruesome Buddhist Hell gardens of Thailand. This is the first book in English about these mysterious and fascinating places and this volume is also the first in a series, all dealing with the dark and unknown side of East Asia. 18 x 24 cm, 256 pages, hardcover

Using Format