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Carl Abrahamsson, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge: ‘Art should be the equivalent of being called to be a shaman or a priest’
‘Art should be the equivalent of being called to be a shaman or a priest’
(p. 37 – 52)

Carl Abrahamsson, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge

‘Art should be the equivalent of being called to be a shaman or a priest’
In conversation with Carl Abrahamsson and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge

PDF, 16 pages

  • occultism
  • ritual
  • spiritism
  • contemporary art

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Carl Abrahamsson

is a Swedish writer living in Stockholm and an ‘occultural entrepreneur’. Since the mid 1980s he has worked with a number of artists as editor, music producer, filmmaker, photographer and curator. For instance, he has worked with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge in the ‘occultural network’ Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth and on the production of records and books. Abrahamsson edits the annual publication The Fenris Wolf, which is dedicated to the interface between art and esotericism. In addition, closely associated with The Fenris Wolf is Abrahamsson’s The Institute of Comparative Magico-anthropology, a combination of archive and think tank. Alongside writing and teaching, his current focus is on filmmaking, above all with the documentary series An Art Apart, which portrays radical artists. www.carlabrahamsson.com
Other texts by Carl Abrahamsson for DIAPHANES

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge

(1950–2020) was a poet, musician, performance artist, occultist and one of the most dazzling figures in recent music history. In 1969 s/he cofounded COUM Transmissions, a subcultural group of British musicians, underground filmmakers and action and conceptual artists, which led in 1975 to the ground-breaking industrial band Throbbing Gristle. After the breakup of the band, Breyer P-Orridge founded the experimental band Psychic TV in 1981 with Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson, and participated in the founding of the occult network Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY). In the early 1990s Breyer P-Orridge and Lady Jane Breyer P-Orridge initiated their Pandrogeny Project, in which both altered their appearances to appear more like each other, striving to challenge or suspend gender divisions and identifications. The Pandrogeny Project has been continued by Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, even after the death of Lady Jane in 2007 www.genesisbreyerporridge.com
Other texts by Genesis Breyer P-Orridge for DIAPHANES
Susanne Witzgall (ed.): Real Magic

In Western societies a newly discovered and very lively interest in magical practices and occult knowledge can be witnessed. The magical seems to be evolving into a popular phenomenon that affects society as a whole and is also becoming the subject of intense debate in artistic and academic-scientific contexts. The book Real Magic investigates the current realities of the magical in the contemporary arts, sciences and everyday culture. It explores the present Western residues and forms of magical practices, the current potentials of magical perception and thinking in a world largely determined by financialised instrumental reason, and also the drawbacks of occultism. The publication is the result of the fourth annual programme of the cx centre of interdisciplinary studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich.

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