Throbbing Gristle @ Tate Modern

This unique screening presents Derek Jarman’s rarely seen early experimental super 8 films, made in the 1970s. Jarman (1942–94) is best known for his films Jubilee, 1977, arguably the first punk movie, Caravaggio,1986, and Blue, 1993. Focusing not on his feature films, but on his magical super 8 material, this exceptional screening includes Studio Bankside 1970, a poetic journey through Jarman’s studio, with introductions to the characters who frequented it, providing a snapshot of the artistic social scene in the pre-punk era and the urban surroundings of Bankside.

Throbbing Gristle (who formed in London in 1975) are a British experimental and industrial music group. Renowned for their early confrontational live performances, for which the House of Commons famously labelled the group ‘Wreckers of Civilisation’, Throbbing Gristle pioneered the use of pre-recorded samples and made extensive use of special effects. The band’s founding members were Chris Carter, Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti (whose work recently featured in the Tate Triennial 2006 exhibition) and Peter Christopherson. Throbbing Gristle collaborated with Derek Jarman on his films In the Shadow of the Sun, 1980, and TG Psychic Rally in Heaven, 1980. The band has performed in the UK very rarely in the last ten years and they will respond to Jarman’s films in an historic, one-off performance in the appropriately industrial setting of the Turbine Hall.