AA Bronson's House of Shame

A secret nocturnal ritual performed by two naked men in a Dutch hotel room; a woven tent where the artist disguised as a magician meets visitors who share their traumas; butt plugs adorned with cock feathers; a collection of queer zines; Scottish anal spray paintings; a Zen garden of mugwort. Some of the singular artistic gestures that AA Bronson has made in recent years are brought together in this book. After the death of his General Idea partners, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal, in 1994, AA Bronson had to learn to go on living alone, to invent a personal identity without his former companions, to create a new community of work, friendship and love. These questions have been at the heart of his art over the past 25 years. He has developed a body of work in which collaboration with other artists, particularly younger queer artists, and the creation of a social bond are central.

AA Bronson’s House of Shame aims to highlight this social dimension in his work through an overview of a series of exhibitions he has produced between 2013 and 2018. These are exhibitions that bring together a community of artists; exhibitions where performances and rituals, often invisible, contribute to the creation of a shared experience; a unique blend of art, friendship, collaboration, spirituality and humor. The book is in two-parts. An initial monographic section, which includes an essay and an interview with the artist, brings together the works and the exhibitions. In the second, choral part, friends have been invited to bear witness and write a sort of ‘journal de bord,’ telling the tale of five years of the artist’s community life.