The original music video for Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s RELAX was banned in 1984 because it was shot in a leather bar featuring gay men and drag queens.Here’s the restored uncensored version.
Posted by Sam Kalidi on Thursday, July 2, 2015
- The original video for Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax” never made it to the air. Why? It’s set in a gay bar populated by leather daddies and drag queens gyrating in a bondage orgy. It’s 1000x better than the version that made it to MTV. This is what a mashup of Kenneth Anger and Jack Smith films would have looked like in the year 1984—an unfortunately bleak time for homophobic censorship. [via @JMGpix]
- The man responsible for controversially putting the Guggenheim on the map is in expansion mode. Thomas Krens, former director of the Guggenheim, is proposing a new 160,000-square-foot museum, the Global Contemporary Collection and Museum, on North Adams’ Harriman-West Airport ground. Krens, who famously came up with the concept of Mass MoCA 30 years ago when he was director of the Williams College Museum of Contemporary Art, has entered lease negotiations with the Airport Commission, and is envisioning a massive for-profit museum with a collection of 400 works. It will cost an estimated ten to fifteen million dollars to build. [Artforum]
- Just Kids, Patti Smith’s memoir of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe during New York’s “Drop Dead” epochal era, is becoming a Showtime miniseries. Smith is on board as a producer and will co-write the script; no word yet on casting or when it’ll drop. (Don’t worry — we’ll make sure to let you know when there’s a casting call.) [artnet News]
- In today’s weird “we live in the future” news, Björn Borg’s Spring/Summer 2016 collection, which will be unveiled at Stockholm Fashion Week, is inspired by the real-life plan for human colonization of Mars. [Mars One]
- Why is Apple hiring so many fashion execs? While it seems as if it’s an attempt to push wearable tech, it’s more likely the post-Steve Jobs recasting of the company as a “lifestyle experience brand.” [The Business of Fashion]
- “Rosé and Beyoncé: two pillars of modern womanhood that we could pack into a time capsule for future generations to unwrap, alongside an iPhone, maybe.” A so-called critical case history of the rosé, and how it transcended its basic roots to become the blushing wine of choice. [Vanity Fair]
- Were you a teen on the Internet? Do you have some stuff online that you kinda-sorta want to delete, but just can’t? That’s where “Delete Your Account! Live” comes in—submit your past self to an open call devoted to performances, readings, and any or all media. Hurry, because the event takes place on August 26. [Delete Your Account Live via @willak]
- Questionable quote of the morning: “If you go to Germany, every mechanic will have an opinion on contemporary art, whereas here people are afraid of looking uninformed, so they refrain from expressing their opinions.” Berliners, got some opinions on this? [Domain]
- It’s that time again, when all your Twitter friends be like vote for me—it’s SXSW PanelPicker voting season. [SXSW]
- Want to see that Perseid meteor shower tonight? Your viewing station will suck, according to this article, unless you’re in the countryside. Good luck, New York! [Business Insider]
- The bust of Edward Snowden that was illegally installed and subsequently removed from a Brooklyn memorial earlier this year is on display at Little Italy’s LoMan Art Festival. [RT]
- “Things That Anarchists Say to Me in Private But Never Repeat Publicly” is an anonymously submitted look at how leftist organizing becomes dysfunctional due to infighting and a set of impossible expectations for activists. Let’s just say that the author made a good call by choosing to remain anonymous—the think-pieces about privilege this could inspire would probably result in total ostracization from the cool kids. [Infoshop News]
