A David Wojnarowicz Performance from 1989 Is Released on Vinyl

The oeuvre of late artist David Wojnarowicz spanned photography, painting, film, music, writing, and performance, all of which are incorporated into the hybrid work “ITSOFOMO: In The Shadow of Forward Motion” (1989). Produced in collaboration with composer Ben Neill, the multimedia work originally took the form of a performance that included a four-channel video piece accompanied by a live reading by Wojnarowicz with Neill’s original score. In writing for KCET in 2013, Jennifer Doyle characterized the work as “a formal, poetic meditation on acceleration,” based on theorist Paul Virilio’s writings, that addresses the AIDS crisis of the time through this lens. Although not as well known as “A Fire in My Belly,” considered a work in progress, “ITSOFOMO” is perhaps his most fully realized film work, which incorporates elements from other projects, including a scene of a crucifix covered in crawling ants that was at the center of a 2010 controversy surrounding the exhibition Hide/Seek at the Smithsonian.

David Wojnarowicz & Ben Neill, ITSOFOMO, LP cover. Image: David Wojnarowicz, “Fear of Evolution (1988-89), Acrylic photograph and collage on wood, 42 x 36 inches. (© Estate of David Wojnarowicz. Courtesy of the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W., New York.)

This Sunday, Morán Morán will be hosting a record release for a new vinyl edition of the performance’s soundtrack, featuring Wojnarowicz’s haunting spoken-word vocals paired with Neill’s dynamic ambient soundscapes and percussive dissonance. The double LP is produced in an edition of 500 by record label Jabs and also includes an essay by Semiotext(e) founder Sylvère Lotringer. In conjunction with the release, Neill will screen a single-channel edit of “ITSOFOMO,” the first time this version has been shown since a 2011 screening at the Tate Modern.