The second eleven-week residence at the message salon embassy Zurich Nord is coming to an end. Madame l’Ambassadeur, Rafał Pierzyński and Divas are celebrating lavishly with the presentation of the brand-new zine touching. For his first publication, the dancer Rafał Pierzyński re-appropriated texts and images from an old collection of gay pornography magazines. The magazines, which appeared before the internet age, define a subculture, which seems now to have become mainstream.
“Touching” uses the aesthetic, as well as the expression and contents of a gay culture celebrating an explicit obsession with male bodies, sex and fantasy. The artist constructs and de-constructs – through collages of image and text material — a pornographic poetry book that deals with questions of sexual identity, beauty, pleasure and desire, but also oppression and trauma, independent of zeitgeist or political activism. He is searching for a language to express this identity.
During the passed weeks, Rafał Pierzyński, accompanied by Madame l’Ambassadeur, attended performances, parties and exhibitions, and became familiar with the local art and dance scene.
Rafał Pierzyński and his collective Divas appeared at various festivals and events around the city. The performer also spent a lot of down-time at message salon embassy’s studio in Schwamendingen, where he hosted old and new friends for tea and conversation, or for training and dance sessions. At the studio, Rafał Pierzyński worked intensively on his collages, now appearing in zine-form.
The limited-edition zine touching by Rafał Pierzyński will be distributed to guests for free at his goodbye party at message salon embassy Zurich Nord.
message salon embassy Zine #9
touching
Rafał Pierzyński
Edition of 150 copies, 40 pages
©2018 Rafał Pierzyński & Divas & message salon