PULp worked on numerous performances as a duo particularly intensely between 1978 and 1983 including Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels; Vanguard Gallery, Los Angeles; Langton Street Gallery, San Francisco; Logos, Belgium; Masque, Hollywood; Arkent, Kensington; Bussed Spectacles, Hackney marshes; B4 Gallery, Wapping and The International Performance Festival at South Hill Park.
In 1982, they took part in the Final Academy, organised by David Dawson, Roger Ely and Genesis P Orridge, centred around and included William Burroughs as well as works inspired by him or having a covalence with him. The Academy included Psychic TV, John Giorna and Brion Gysin. Anne choked on her words, as she stuffed the paper with lyrics of White Man’s Gotta God Complex by The Last Poets into her mouth, as she sung each verse.
Art work today has to be capable of radical change all the time. Good work has to change according to the circumstances out of which it arises, our changing perception of the world, social, political and economic changes and pressures, and changes within the performer. You have to follow your intuition and insight. Our work changes according to the context in which we perform, or more exactly, according to our perception and response to that circumstance.
Anne Bean’s collaborative performances with Burwell were ritualistic events in which Bean became an androgynous shamanistic figure whose actions were orchestrated by Burwell’s dramatic drumming, which used elaborate drum kits incorporating a variety of percussive objects, paint, and pyrotechnic devices.
A lot of people see the things we do as aggressive or destructive but that’s not the intention. We’re more concerned to show that things are transitory...
The performance was a continuation of a series of amazing one off events - uniquely spectacular and endearingly human.
The harsh sounds continue intermittently leaving in their gaps the sounds of rain splashing on the glass, making a strong contrast with its gentleness. There is nervous tension in the audience’s corner… the earth begins to move… a strong figure emerges smeared with black wet mud, like a creature from another world.. earth sticks to the glass… she finds an opening and blows a horn to herald her entrance into this world. She crawls in to the arena like a dark angel from a faraway hell. The public is totally silent… the distance between her and us seems interminable……us in our clean rows holding our breath and her strange frightening form crawling, leaving a brown trail of earth behind her.
These two performance artists use music, voice and elaborate theatre effects to produce a visually stunning image. Anne Bean and Paul Burwell’s performances are always original. They weave a magical creation which breaks down barriers of perception and transcends the humdrum of everyday.
It is refreshing to hear music that is not only unusual and complex but also direct and intimate.
The result can be astonishing when the artists complement each other, as when Bean matches her voice to the sounds produced by Burwell’s plucking of elastic.
To the pulse of Paul Burwell’s drumming, Anne Bean seemed to try to regain a physical absorption in nature. She inundated herself with words from scientific and North American sacred texts, and literally in a stream of honey. The piece built up to a breathtaking moment when a fan blew clouds of gold and turquoise paper all over the room as a simile of pollen.
A cloud of colour exploded - we all gasped - sticking to Anne’s bee-body.
...eclectic the Final Academy was. The roll-call sounded like an impossible dream - William Burroughs, Jeff Nuttall, Paul Burwell and Anne Bean and Ian Hinchcliffe...
...Burwell and Bean put on an incredible show of pyrotechnics, pounding of drums, and proclaiming of White Man’s Gotta God Complex by the Last Poets. A sample of the late Steve Cripps “legacy” of explosives had the battery of exotic snappers, video and super eighters, minor celebs and their retinues, scampering for cover, as Anne Bean raged, stomping her feet in the billowing smoke.
Cabaret Futura organized by Anne Bean and Hermine Demoriane: Paul Burwell’s drumming was positively inspired and Anne’s singing and moving with flaming firebrand against slide projections were extremely powerful.
Anne Bean and Paul Burwell put on an incredible show of pyrotechnics, preaching, pounding of drums and proclaiming.
Read MoreAs ‘The Creatures’ Siouxie and Budgie may have popularized the drum/vocal combination of post punk, but Pulp music did it first. The dynamic duo engage in another of their charismatic evenings.