Cultural Politics

MODELING AFFECTIVE LABOR On Terry Richardson’s Photography

Benjamin Halligan

Abstract Photographer Terry Richardson works in a digital aesthetic vernacular that looks more to underground hard-­core pornography of yesteryear than traditions associated with the institutionalization of erotica, as associated with Playboy. And yet his images, in Kibosh and Terryworld, anticipate the contemporary public recalibration of ideas of intimacy as associated with social media, tally with contested ideas of the sexualization of female empowerment as associated with contested elements of third wave feminism, and can be read as a contemporary phase of Antonio Negri’s theory of art and immaterial labor in their evidencing of the affective labor on the part of the photographer himself. This critical commentary, the first such academic writing on Richardson, explores his work in these contexts and considers Richardson’s return to the figure (over abstraction) as evidencing and exploring of the nature of work, and the nascent eroticization of working relations, under Western neoliberal regimes. Keywords Terry Richardson, digital photography, pornography, neoliberalism, Antonio Negri

The Terry Look

n antique “porn chic” unifies, seemingly, the majority of A photographer Terry Richardson’s output — ­work that cov- ers straight portraiture (for magazines, as collected in books, and via his website, as linked across numerous social media platforms), reportage, in-­studio videos (often of shoots with models), music promos, architectural photography (the Holly- wood sex-­industry locales of the 2012 collection Terrywood),

58 Cultural Politics, Volume 13, Issue 1, © 2017 Duke University Press DOI: 10.1215/17432197-3755192

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and even, revealingly and unapologetically, production in the 1970s, the establishment elements of Richardson merchandise. of a collectively recognized “porn chic,” On the latter, it is possible to purchase, giving rise to a hauntology to be detected presumably as a humorous gift, the “Terry in retro fashion and club music sampling, Richardson Plastic Camera” set: the and often now accessed via films from that plastic camera itself, a black T-­shirt, and period (“Der nicht zumindest einen dieser MODELING AFFECTIVE LABOR Richardson-­style glasses.1 The knowing Porno-­Klassiker kennt” [“Everyone recog- nature of the joke, in relation to the plastic nizes at least one porn classic”]; Steffen On Terry Richardson’s Photography camera, is that Richardson seems to 2014: 9).2 prefer, as evidenced in his photos, off-­the-­ The black T-­shirt — ­the final compo- shelf rather than professional equipment nent of the gift set — ­underscores this and, more importantly, revels in the resul- sense of gonzo amateurism in the produc- Benjamin Halligan tant contradiction of being a name pho- tion of images: no dressy and “official” tographer wielding amateur and relatively portrait shoot setup, but a casual approach inexpensive equipment. The results of this in sartorial and, seemingly, artistic mat- choice are characteristic of Richardson’s ters too. One would be tempted to draw work and are achieved via his deploy- parallels between Richardson and David ment of an inbuilt (rather than detachable) Bailey (especially in his scruffy fictional flash. This splays a caustic light across variant, as the protagonist of Michelangelo his subjects, flattening features and, as if Antonioni’s 1966 filmBlow- ­Up) or Helmut working like an exfoliating facial sponge, Newton (in terms of his relentless focus unflatteringly bringing to visibility imper- on the sexualized female form, sometimes fections on the surface of the skin. Such heavily fetishized), rather than society roughness is in itself a key facet of porn photographers Cecil Beaton or Lord Patrick aesthetics (along with a general poverty Lichfield, but for the fact that Richardson, of the mise-­en-­scène, which Richardson like Beaton and Lichfield, has also shot the also embraces) — ­at least those aesthetics great and the good — ­even US President established during the “underground” Barack Obama. And yet where a casual period of discrete production of hard-­core approach has been deployed by other soci- pornography, which ran absolutely counter ety photographers in terms of presenting to the lushness and warmth of Playboy less stuffy images, as with Mario Testino’s nude photo spreads. photographs of Princess Diana (and as The faux-­Richardson glasses in the gift deliberately echoed in his later portraits set further encode this signature “look” (of of William Windsor and Kate Middleton), the photographs, but also of the photog- the results are often merely less stuffy in rapher — ­of Richardson himself, who often matters of framing, stiffness of poise, use appears in his own images): clunky, geeky, of official attire, and so on. The sense of 1970s-­esque. But if Richardson and his a cloying curtsying in exalted company,

work seem like an anachronistic throwback with the deferential photographer enfee- POLITICS

to an earlier time, it is a very specific time: bled before his subjects, has not been that period of the creation of the overlit, dispelled. Paparazzi images have man- washed-­out patina, and exploitational aged to cut through such stratagems and

ambience, of modern hard-­core pornogra- caught something of the royal or exalted CULTURAL phy. Stephen Maddison (2009) and Nicola person underneath — ­that is, photographs 59 Steffen (2014) find, in low-­budget porn from the vantage point of “the streets.”

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For the paparazzi, to borrow a phrase difficult outside), friends in attendance. associated with graffiti artist Jean-­Michel More generally, contextualizing Richard- Basquiat, the street is the studio: a place son’s work in such lofty company, above, of infinite variables; of happenstance; an misses the one essential comparison for unlimited, uncontrolled space; and where this obsessive and constant preoccupation the photographer finds him- ­or herself with “sexiness.” The low production val- forced to live in the moment and utilizes ues and low humor, and sexual mores and their camera accordingly — ­the sometime attitudes that seem from an earlier time, reflex-­rendering of a split second (as Peter the troubling of the liberal commentariat, Howe puts it: “endless hours of tedium and the presence of an unlikely and grin- with moments of adrenaline-­fuelled inten- ning ringmaster at the center of the circus sity”; 2005: 38). Bailey can be associated recall British comedian Benny Hill and The with this sensibility, as can Richardson, Benny Hill Show. In considering Richard- and with a figure like Jean Pigozzi (espe- son’s work of the last decade, one could cially during the 1970s, snapping his way reasonably consider “The Terry Richardson through high society and Eurotrash gather- Show” as an apt descriptor. ings; see Pigozzi 1979), bridging the two. Richardson’s pornography aesthetic All three photographers operated at also recalls, and embraces, the limitations an intersection between high fashion and of the predigital instant photograph. Cam- “trashy” subjects, looked to playfulness eras with self-­developing film, in which rather than the earnestness that typifies the material image itself was available much photographic realism, and found within minutes of being taken, hit their expressions of sexuality to be unavoidable maximum popularity in the late 1970s and and ever present in the general run of life. early 1980s.3 In cutting out the middle All three seemed to work to capture the man (the developer), and so eliminating the immediacy of the moment in which the wait between taking an image and having photograph is taken or, rather, from which an image, such technology introduced the photograph can be said to emerge: image making into intimate domains, and immediacy in the sense of spontaneity, the immediacy of the intimate moment: the sudden coming together of setting the camera as mirror, or diary, and a device and subject, or a flash of character or for homemade pornography. Simulta- personality, or a uniqueness to a gesture neously to the widespread use of such or expression or appearance. Composition home technologies came new, post-­1968 and lighting are often secondary to an sensibilities, evolving toward identity 1

3:1 March 2017 instinct for reportage, or a grabbing of a politics and second and third waves of • moment as it occurs. This is the basis of feminism. To think of the photography of the association with pornography aesthet- nude bodies and sexual activities around ics: frenzied activity in which the camera is 1968 is to think of the massed rather than

POLITICS failing to “master” the reality that sur- the individual: the rally/be-­in and the orgy

rounds it but nonetheless seeks to capture as dovetailing — ­as with The Living Theater, what it can. And, while Richardson often or Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point (1969), or seems to remain in his studio, the studio is the record sleeve of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric

CULTURAL treated as a living space and is presented Ladyland of 1968, or Michael Wadleigh’s as such: beds, food, clutter, computer Woodstock (1970), or even John Lennon 60 equipment, sexual activity (presumably and Yoko Ono’s very public “bed-­ins”

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in 1969 (and see, too, Levy 1973). In “failures” to achieve bourgeois respectabil- contrast, across the 1970s, the singular ity. Such intimacy, and bringing the camera body itself came to be understood to bear into areas of privacy, can be read as witness to, and suffer under, micro forms melding the identity politics of the 1970s of oppression, and so became the site for with the widespread use of technologies viable and pragmatic means of liberation. of instantaneous and private photography. Debates over exploitation and pornog- Indeed, this tendency can itself be read as raphy, or exhibition and empowerment, in dialectical opposition to pornography: in relation to nude or semiclad models, to take over the means of production and often centered on allied questions of the produce images of the body oneself. The individual (her “use” or, more helpfully advent of the digital camera in the 2000s considered in the context of this discus- further enabled this during the decade of sion, her “terms of employment” as a the full institutionalization of confessional worker: whether enabling and dignified, or and sexual performance via social media demeaning) rather than sought to mount (and in the wake of the use of the Internet an institutional critique of the practice for distribution of celebrity sex tapes), and itself. The latter position — ­empowerment the genres of reality television. through sexual performance — ­seems Richardson’s adoption of amateur mature, liberal, and respectful and even pornography aesthetics across the 2000s looks to elements of second wave fem- begins to signal a way beyond the limita- inism, such as Germaine Greer’s own tions of the consumerist fantasies that nude modeling for Suck magazine in May structured commercial, Playboy-­centric 1971. The former position — ­attacks on the pornography (as argued below) and toward mass nudity requested or required at the the idea of homemade pornography as behest of predatory industries of exploita- documenting new social practices. The tion — ­seems puritanical, reactionary, and prerequisite for this break with older infused with the kind of “killjoy” ambience modes of pornography (whether consum- that third wave feminism has sought to erist or crudely amateur), for Jean Bau- shake (as Sara Ahmed [2010] argues). drillard, writing in 1983, is a sense that an Those photographers whose work can be absolute visual verisimilitude of represen- seen as anticipating and engaging with this tation, as meeting with the most intimate development through their concentration of matters, merely offers the idea of an on the individual self, such as Francesca obscene “truth” — ­that is, now being able Woodman (in her proto-­“selfies”) and Nan to see that thing which we do not ordinarily Goldin (the self-­documentation of The Bal- see, or was “secret.” This is a “forcing of lard of Sexual Dependency: 1979 – 1986), representation” and is indicative of a wider are more usefully compared to Richardson malaise, but one that here, for Baudrillard, than those whose work also explored is usefully considered in respect of por-

“sexual extremes,” such as Robert Map- nography. Pornography naturally gravitates POLITICS plethorpe and Andres Serrano. For Goldin, to the visual assurance of the authenticity the camera witnesses in both voyeuristic of the biological interactions on display, and evidential ways: evidence for the which is typically called the “money shot” prosecution of the violent partners who (the male ejaculation). But “an orgasm in CULTURAL have beat her, and perhaps even for the color and close up is neither necessary 61 self-­prosecution (on Goldin’s part) of her nor convincing — ­it is merely implacably

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true, even if it is the truth of nothing at Baudrillard’s term, once their pornographic all. It is only abjectly visible, even if it nature as their primary focus is discarded represents nothing at all” (Baudrillard (or post-­ed, as per post-­pornography). This [1983] 2008: 90). This sense of access to article argues that these social practices, a thrillingly obscene truth, now that this as anticipated or even verified in Richard- truth is so widely known or exposed (i.e., son’s work, evidence coming changes in the commonplace nature of money shots, professional or work cultures. And these and their becoming de rigueur for or a changes are theorized in relation to the cliché of pornography), is no longer enough post-­Fordist era and the way in which work to sustain pornography as it had been moves from material production to imma- known. Hence “we’ve come to the end terial production, often along the lines of of the cycle of sexuality as truth” (132). affective labor. But in this paradigm, sexuality does not For Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, vanish from view but, rather, becomes the affective labor “produces or manipulates material for reworked representations. This affects such as a feeling of ease, well-­ is a tendency that could then be applied being, satisfaction, excitement, or passion” to Richardson’s revisiting of an antiquated (2005: 108). This generation of feelings or style to achieve “porn chic,” in which sentiment is typically understood to be an sexuality becomes “more sexual than sex: addition to actual labor, as requested and porn, the hypersexuality contemporaneous paid for, but one that comes to finesse the with the hyperreal” (30). In this, Rich- effectiveness of the worker and so can ardson, knowingly postmodern, can be become fundamental to the role of the taken to be reworking an older aesthetic worker. Affective labor is usually associ- tendency whose initial semiotic strategies, ated with practices in the service indus- or promises of views of obscene truths, tries: the waitress, while serving, may have long since been rendered obscure or need or is expected to deploy both barista passé. And yet the idea of Richardson as and affective skills.4 In simple terms: the postmodern pornographer, and so having question of what now constitutes work, of opened up a new commercial vista of what the worker is now employed to actu- obscenity, sits uneasily with the general ally do, and how the worker goes about poverty of his mise-­en-­scène across the doing it, has been radically revised. And, 2000s. But as postpornography, Richard- while the worker has been released from son’s images seem to suggest something the discipline of factory hours (and so is else at work in the full institutionalization “post-­” the Fordist model of factory work, 1

3:1 March 2017 of confessional and sexual performance with its material production), the freedom • via social media. If, as noted, this full on the other side seems to have opened institutionalization occurred organically, or up further possibilities for an ever greater from the grass roots, and so is “amateur” extraction of labor.

POLITICS in a more literal sense, then the resultant At this point, the idea of new forms

flows of images also evidence new forms of the exploitation of the worker, ever of human interactions and communica- more demeaning and enveloping ever tions, and new social practices. Such more hours, dovetails with classical

CULTURAL practices, while nominally pornographic in conceptions and representations of their endeavors, can be read as pointing exploitation, as found in prostitution and 62 toward a different type of secret, to use pornography. This is not to say that we

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are all now understood to effectively be in New York in 2004 (with Richardson prostitutes — ­faking emotions to remain now emboldened to brand his curated in secure servitude, offering both mind images with his own name) troubled, and and body, and desire and intellect, to the was covered by, the London Observer employers — ­but that emotions and human and the New York Times (O’Hagan 2004; interactions are also effectively contracted. Trebay 2004, respectively). Rebecca For some third wave feminist thinkers, Arnold makes a familial association with as noted below, this allows for empower- a 1972 Nova photo by Richardson’s late ment and equality. Baudrillard’s maxim is fashion photographer father, Bob, in extended. We may have “come to the end which a model in a seedy hotel, while of the cycle of sexuality as truth” (Baudril- “conform[ing] to many of the usual sexual lard 2008: 132), but in so doing we have tactics assigned to the fashion image” in arrived at the beginning of the cycle of fact “appears dead, pills emptying from a sexuality as freed for deployment in other bottle clasped in her hand” (1999: 294). spheres, and in other ways. Richardson’s The son’s imagery came to avoid the her- images can be seen to chart this devel- oin chic trope of the emaciated and “out opment, and the resultant entwining of of it” and so helpless model, which can sexuality and affective labor. be read as of a continuum with the Bob Richardson photo, in Arnold’s reading, in The Terry Richardson Show favor of the emancipated and “into it,” pro-­ Richardson first garnered attention in the sex, and so empowered model. Six images late 1990s, as initially associated with of women’s faces — ­extracted details from “heroin chic” (see Arnold 1999). Exhibi- full-­page images from Kibosh — ­suggest tions in New York and London followed, something of this consciously awake state and “Terryworld” at the Deitch Gallery (see fig. 1). POLITICS

CULTURAL

Figure 1 Extracted details from Terry Richardson’s Kibosh images (2004). 63 Faces rephotographed, cropped, and rendered in black and white

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The shot of “good girl gone bad” street culture or DIY. [Cocurator Aaron] actress and model Lindsay Lohan that Rose had difficulty defending his inclusion closes Terrywood works in just such a way of Richardson’s work” (2011: 9). Such too: an open mouth and seductive stare controversy has dogged his work ever into the camera, mussed-­up bleached since, but latterly mostly in respect to his hair and a comfy jumper, in transit (her supposed working methods. Thus a mem- handbag’s strap over her shoulder), and ber of Pussy Riot felt obliged to apologize, the (presumably) hotel room number postshoot, for working with Richardson, 69 leveled with her knowing eyes. The and the tabloid press reproduced a video unmade-­up lips reveal freckles; perhaps of an off-­the-­cuff verbal attack on Richard- the lipstick was rubbed off after the call girl son in the context of a review of his “case assignment (the image’s narrative could history” of allegations (see Testa 2015 suggest) that Lohan seems to be unapolo- and Foster 2015, respectively). Within ten getically modeling. years of Terryworld (2004) and Beautiful The charge that Richardson was Losers, as I have argued elsewhere (Hal- “merely” controversial seems to have ligan 2015a), Richardson seems to have been present from the outset. The word come to be perceived as simply generating slut scrawled across a kneeling woman’s controversy where desired: in terms of forehead (see fig. 2), seen fellating Rich- sullying the wholesomeness of the public ardson, would seem to render the image persona associated with Miley Cyrus at the beyond the pale for the mainstream as well time of her “Bangerz” tour and “Wrecking as making for a deliberate provocation to Ball” single (2014), for example, or in bring- alternative curatorial impulses. ing an “edginess” to fashion shoots for Such provocation worked for the international labels; and then as a matter 2004 exhibition Beautiful Losers at the of accusations (mostly via the outraged Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, liberal media, who have made him into a for example, which sought to present art hate figure and folk devil), rather than full from outside the mainstream, looking to legal recourse, of behaviors ranging from subcultures such as skateboarding and inappropriate to sexual assault. But in this do-­it-­yourself electronic music (rather context it is difficult to read the testimo- than institutions and industries of art), and nials praising Richardson, often in terms operating without recourse to the para- of his kindly nature, that close the entirely digms in operation in the business of art. respectable 2015 retrospective volumes Richardson was singled out as unworthy Terry Richardson (Richardson 2015 [vol. 1], 1

3:1 March 2017 of inclusion; Matthew Atencio and Becky unnumbered), as much more than charac- • Beal summarize the “heated arguments ter references for some anticipated future during the panel discussion . . . around sex- court case. And the ardor of the anti-­ ism, misogyny and nepotism in the show” Richardson furor speaks too of the fall-­out

POLITICS where “the lightening [sic] rod for this dis- from a series of revelations in recent years

cussion was a particular work of photog- around senior and respected establish- rapher Terry Richardson that showcased ment media figures who would seem to his penis and naked women admiring it. have lived lives of barely concealed vice

CULTURAL Several members of the audience asked and debauchery across decades without how this represented outsider sensibility, investigation or censure from those in the 64

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Figure 2 Extracted detail from Terry Richardson’s Kibosh (2004).

Face rephotographed, cropped, and rendered in black and white POLITICS

CULTURAL 65

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Benjamin Halligan

know — ­as with the alleged cases of Roger the nature of exploitation in modeling (via Ailes in the United States or Jimmy Savile artsiness or even, in third wave feminist in the United Kingdom (see Thielman 2016 terms again, as empowerment) but just and Davies 2015, respectively). The failings crudely delivers the object of desire as of the fourth estate emerged from these objectified and at times actually subject to revelations as effectively rendering such seemingly aggressive sexual desire. And, figures untouchable, and so calling into at this time, with the dissemination of ris- question any high moral ground that the qué images across social media as caught popular press might continue to assume. between the trivial (bannings of images Richardson, then, was a figure who of breastfeeding, for example, see Nelson provided the opportunity, for those who 2014; the nonscandals of pushing against needed it, to be seen to be making good beauty “norms”) and the cruelly pernicious for historical derelictions of duty, on the (the initial refusal to recognize pansexual part of themselves or their organizations or identities, for example; see Hot Mess, publications. 2015), Richardson’s radicalism — ­at least In these respects, Richardson’s notori- in respect to the stream of images issuing ety could be said to be usefully understood from his studio, via his website, and as in neoliberal terms: as available for the disseminated across social media — ­came outsourcing of outré photo shoots so that to reside in the former category of trivial: multinational companies can avoid poten- a tight spectrum of vanilla candidness that tial scandals relating to in-­house activities seems little more than showing elements from risqué and salaried photographers. of straight arousal, or the “edginess” of Richardson’s Kibosh (2004) therefore A-­list female star armpit hair (see Billboard might be read as advertising or anticipating 2015). A Tumblr account, “I Miss the Old something that had yet to be fully called Terry,” draws a measured conclusion: that into existence: a self-­fulfilling prophecy Richardson’s work of interest (at least, the of a wild photographer, freely spraying work that he is releasing) was now a thing his semen across his subjects, whom an of the past (“I Miss” 2015). The way in advertising agency, in need of a measure which the two-­volume Terry Richardson of artistic reinvigoration or to demonstrate (Richardson 2015) cleansed the back cata- a competitive edge, may dare to hire for a log of potentially problematic images could few hours. And any concomitant negative be said to be further evidence of as much. coverage of the exploitative and “pervy” nature of “Uncle Terry” and tut-­tutting over 2004: Kibosh and Terry world 1

3:1 March 2017 his use by fashion houses and magazines Kibosh presents itself as recording a series • become the foundations for online click-­ of precise moments in what seems to bait rather than raising the unwelcome coalesce, across its hundreds of pages, specter of the “feminist killjoy” in relation into an overarching sexual narrative of

POLITICS to those who would criticize Richardson, Richardson’s numerous partners. Mostly

especially in respect of notions or (for the photos show Richardson receiving (or Hakim 2011) potentials, of social and starting to receive, or having just received) career empowerment through sexuality.5 oral sex. Minor narratives run through

CULTURAL One is further tempted to speculate that the book too: the messy studio space the “problem” of Terry Richardson might in which the sexual encounters seem to 66 simply be that he does not tastefully cloak occur; the women who are seen providing

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the oral sex, only to then disappear and revenge shots of ex partners in compro- sometimes reappear later; Richardson’s mising sexual positions (as made public assistants who occasionally step into online by embittered or vengeful men), (“photo bomb”) the shots; and glimpses they do not suggest a terminus. That is, of some other recognizable artifacts. The unlike hard-­core pornography or revenge mise-­en-­scène of Kibosh seems airless, pornography, Richardson’s blow-­job shots unhealthy, entropic, more crack house than do not function as the nec plus ultra of whorehouse, and the narrative unfolds having successfully “pulled” or “nailed” across an uncertain duration. Time does a desired partner. Rather, the shots seem seem to pass, however, as signaled exploratory — ­not arriving at the moment through the introduction of new tattoos of oral sex as the final destination, but on Richardson’s limbs. And one tattoo in that moment as one further step in an particular, unavoidable across Richardson’s ongoing inquiry into the nature of sexual stomach — ­“T-­Bone” (slang for penis, as intimacy. So the book sequences shots equating penile muscle with high-­quality, of encounters with different women: sirloin-­cut beefsteak) — ­emphasizes the younger, older, girlfriends, (perhaps) pros- way in which the project of Kibosh is fun- titutes, “rougher” women (cuts and abra- damental to Richardson: as fundamental sions, acne blemishes, ungroomed pubic as justifying a permanent marking on his hair), and, perhaps, pornographic models body, since Kibosh essentially presents his (fully made up, surgically enhanced), and T-­Bone in use. Or, that Richardson himself with a merry interlude with a number of is, in fact, T-­Bone (his street name? his transgendered or preoperation transsexual skater name?): that he is named after his partners. For these only, Richardson con- penis. And indeed his grinning face is spicuously sports a condom. often placed at the outer reaches of the For the inquiry, across Kibosh, shots or, blurred and darkened, outside or Richardson is in the process of trying out behind the areas in focus, or just cropped mouths, moving between, and back and off altogether. It is his erection rather than forth, familiar mouths and new mouths, as himself that comes to dominate the image. if sampling wines from different vineyards Or, in thinking about the expensive nature and of different vintages. The transgender of these reproductions (glossy, full-­bleed) interlude, in this context, seems like a and the coffee-­table-­size, deluxe-­bound comparative excursion. And it is this book itself (from Italian art publisher Dami- matter — ­receiving oral sex, and his sexual ani), that “T-­Bone” is effectively the gallery pleasure generally — ­that is the narrative caption next to the art work itself — ­in this thread, or thematic continuum, across case, Richardson’s penis. Kibosh. This occurs in media res: with no While the shots briskly reproduce the introduction or scene setting. dominant relations of the male receiving Image 1: close-­up of a girl’s face,

oral sex, as familiar from pornography performing oral sex; POLITICS

(the male towering over the squatting Image 2: same girl held upside down or horizontal female; the male receiving by a standing Richardson, who is receiving pleasure from the repetitive work of the oral sex; female), and while the shots also, through Image 3: rear-­entry vaginal sex; CULTURAL the smirks and look-­at-­me framing and Image 4: girl masturbates Richardson; 67 performing, suggest the braggadocio of Image 5: variant of image 4;

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Image 6: centerfold-­type image of oral capitalization of this erotic potential, in sex; and so on. respect to the “global porn ecology,” is And Kibosh ends in pretty much the commonplace for self-­employed “models same way. at home”: “Any girl from the most remote Such a cutting-­to-­the-­quick upturns regions of Russia or any young person expectations of the sequencing of erotic from Alcarria armed with a computer, a images. Beatriz Preciado, in a critical webcam, and a Paypal account can find consideration of the philosophy of Playboy themselves very easily to be legitimate magazine, notes the narrative functions competitors of Playboy,” Preciado notes of the standard sequence of nude images. (2014: 215 – 16). This development, then, This narrative typically begins with the may be usefully considered in respect to Playmate model, who performs the role of Hefner’s and Richardson’s versions of the being “a rather helpless and infantile girl” “girl next door.” For Hefner the occasional and so is presented as the “girl next door” girl next door may turn out to be, miracu- in her “natural habitat” (home or the lously and in the manner of an idiot savant office, where she would typically be seen (or just goaded into being), a fully realized as a secretary). This offers the reassurance Playmate. While for Richardson, the girl/ that she is not a prostitute or predatory transsexual next door is already fully and “loose” woman (i.e., she is safely aware of this potential and seems to move disease free). For Playboy, therefore, the straight to a “pornified” performance. “Playmates were nice clean girls; there No narrative of seduction is deemed was nothing to fear from seducing them” necessary. (Preciado 2014: 57), and the engendered The composition of images illustrates fantasy of this seduction occurs across the just such a divide too: the Playboy shoot progressive disrobing in the sequence of is often tastefully (that is, softly) lit, gauzy, photos: from office girl to centerfold. and soft focus, and the model almost coy. Preciado also quotes Playboy founder Richardson’s aesthetic recalls cheap 1970s Hugh Hefner’s “rules” for photographic porn imagery: bluntly gynecological or shoots and notes, in 1958, a call for organcentric and lit to reveal the maximum readers to engage in “Photographing Your of detail, including tell-­tale marks on “real” Own Playmate” (2014: 63). The concep- bodies — ­the aesthetic that counters the tion is that the girl next door could indeed unreality of institutionalized mainstream be revealed to have erotic potential, and pornography (as finessed by airbrushing that this hidden and maybe even unex- and photo shopping, trimming and shav- 1

3:1 March 2017 pected aspect of her is simply waiting to ing, teeth whitening, digital manipulation: • be tapped and revealed. The revelation smoothing off, as it were, the surface and cannot be immediate (since the helpless/ stresses of the body). That is, the images infantile girl is to be shyly reticent about speak of reportage rather than fantasy,

POLITICS such matters) but must occur through a and of the actualité and immediacy of

gradual process of stripping.6 The narra- the encounter rather than staged and tive of hard-­core pornography is merely a performed acts within an evolving erotic logical extension of this approach, but now narrative.

CULTURAL terminating in penetrative sex rather than In this, Richardson’s use of relatively full-­frontal nudity. cheap technology, in terms of cameras, 68 Over half a century later, a and his ease in reproducing aesthetically

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less- ­than-­perfect images (for example, poses as if aping a “real” (heterosexual) blurred or poorly lit), come to make sense. porn shoot. The puerile jokes continue Richardson’s preference is for multiple into Terryworld: Richardson using the 35mm point-­and-­shoot Yashica T5 cam- string of an inserted tampon to floss eras, small enough to fit into the palm of his teeth, or pressing his mouth against a hand, and which renders image density female genitalia so that the pubic hair is and detail, if not depth, and features a recast as his moustache (both images built-­in flash and timer — ­the camera itself perhaps offer disrespectful homage to features in the images, as scattered and Mapplethorpe’s self-­portraits);7 cows’ discarded, or as an accompaniment to sex- udders and bananas replacing penises; a ual acts in themselves. But if the aesthetic penis “wearing” a Manolo Blahnik stiletto; recalls vintage porn, the evidential nature Batman and Robin flashing and kissing. of the images anticipates what it means Terry’s semen seems to get everywhere to have a sexual encounter in the age in Kibosh especially — ­smeared across of social media, when reportage (verbal faces, tights, stomachs, and somehow into or visual) functions as immediate news, his own mouth, spattered on floorboards, social capital, validation, comedy, erotic staining his clothes — ­as if its presence is recall, blackmail material (on a spectrum both biological validation of the ontological from “slut shaming” to literal blackmail), a truth of the sex seen and the punchline process of becoming-­celebrity (for those of this broad-­stroke and goofy comedy famous from a succès de scandale sex show. The term kibosh could be taken as tape), and even legal protection (against some kind of moment-­of-­orgasm cry — ­a those who would claim a lack of compli- sort of comedic variant on “Yes!,” as an ance on their part). And the social (rather amalgamation or blending of “ka-­boom!,” than private) element is writ large: the “splash!,” “splat!,” “bang!,” “gush!” — ­and sexual process is one of humor, dares, so emblazons the book quite precisely: and feats, as if requiring an audience for muscle spasm/orgasm/ejaculation/excla- all this (fellatio performance, penetration mation.8 It is a pop art move for the col- close-­ups, mid-­masturbation selfies), and lection of images: the big nonsense title, photography is part of the sexual process outmaneuvering or undercutting a sense of itself. Women wear Terry’s glasses; Terry’s artiness with street language, and perhaps ejaculate pools onto his own glasses; even in this seeking comparison with Roy women are individually seen emerging Lichtenstein’s iconographic 1963 painting from a trash can (in the manner of Oscar “Whaam!” the Grouch of Sesame Street), from where The camera itself is almost as ubiq- they fellate; women’s heads stick out of uitous as Richardson in the images. closed suitcases, to fellate; priest and nun Sometimes the photo is of Richardson costumes are used; a fairy godmother taking a photo, and in this respect casts

costume is used; a pantomime horse is Richardson as model/porn star rather than POLITICS deployed (with Terry’s penis standing in artist: subject rather than photographer. for the horse’s); Terry’s erection seems Or others are seen taking the photo (or, in in danger of encountering a dog that is one instance, videoing): Richardson taking held aloft (it is unclear whether it is a real a photo of a woman taking a photo of his CULTURAL dog or a stuffed toy); and a threesome of penis, for example. But generally the com- 69 transsexuals playact, adopting porn-­star position evidences that Richardson has

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taken the photo: vertiginous angles down an arrow pointing in (and the next image: a or up, all of which can be read as POV naked Richardson as a devil, red-­eyed from (point of view; another aesthetic vernac- the flash, the hanging tail perpendicular to ular of amateur porn), or artlessly angled his flaccid penis). The image opposite the shots on the level of the mouth, from a “I would never ask . . . ” maxim effectively camera dropped to the level of the groin/ presents and so demystifies the method- mouth interaction. Indeed, fellatio lends ology employed in this image making: a itself to photography in these respects: teddy bear straddling and dwarfed by Rich- Richardson’s hands and upper body remain ardson’s erection, as he reclines on a bed, free to deal with the photographic record, his anus on display and the flash of the which would not be the case in terms of camera, and the unnamed photographer, the fuller preoccupation of face-­to-­face reflected in the curved metallic lampshade sexual intercourse. Those other hands above the bed. around the cameras, however, or the In the parallel collection of images, discarded cameras on a bedspread, work Terryworld, Richardson often remains in to evidence the democratic nature of the the frame, even as it becomes occupied act of photography in these scenarios: an with others — ­even, at times, notable accompaniment to sex that produces its others.9 Whereas for Kibosh, Richardson’s own particular secretions (digital images) presence was necessary — ­since, in the rather than a reorganizing of sex to another manner of a diary, he was recording his end altogether (the production of pornogra- own actions — ­for Terryworld his presence phy). Thus cameras denote compliance. In seems superfluous, and even opportunis- this respect, the presence of the cameras tic, and then veering between obsessional in the images function as akin to the only and tedious. If Kibosh concerns activities written words in the book, a quote by behind closed doors, Terryworld concerns Richardson found on the first (unnum- the world outside that Richardson now bered) page beyond the front matter: “I finds: on porn film sets, in cheap hotel would never ask someone to do some- rooms, in trailer parks, on roads, in ceme- thing that I wouldn’t do myself.” Despite teries, in public toilets, and in forests. the temptation to believe otherwise, this Why does Richardson remain in proviso claims that the acts depicted are of frame? Terryworld, as a kind of mappa mutual exploration rather than exploitation. mundi, shows a world that revolves around (In fact, Richardson is not seen giving oral him: he remains at its center, generating sex to a male or transsexual himself, so or provoking this world and its behaviors 1

3:1 March 2017 the maxim still requires some good faith.) into existence before the camera. As • But the maxim itself may be another joke: with Pigozzi, it is Richardson’s presence a preemptive, defensive self-­exculpation that seems to transform the humdrum that, in introducing Kibosh in this way, into a party, that suggests the possibility

POLITICS recalls warnings such as Dante Alighieri’s of a permanent record of these fleeting

“Abandon hope, ye who enter here,” encounters and everyday moments (a inscribed above the ninth gate of Hell (in woman entering a hotel bedroom from a Inferno). For Terryworld, this classical shower, Pigozzi’s legs visible on the bed,

CULTURAL connection becomes explicit: an open for example), through the presence of a door, seemingly within a derelict building, camera. But Terry is not confined to the 70 and “Enter Hell” messily graffitied above role of interloper and interpreter and goes

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further: Richardson could be said to be there is a geographical particularity to this the world in its fallen state, enticing stars too, and one that also finds a resonance in down from the heavens to dally with him, the anonymous and run-­down environs of and so partake of something of a loss of Terryworld: the sense of the outskirts of innocence, and the fall of man, before towns (gas stations near motels, wood- returning to the firmament with a more lands), or derelict and squatted buildings distinctive sparkle, as is the case with his and warehouses — ­the forgettable, drab, work with Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and and undesirable locales in which such Beyoncé. Even the absence of Richardson sexual practices can be found, or bought, in the frame becomes no barrier to imag- and practitioners congregate, and are all ining him behind the camera, and reading usefully kept out of sight. the image as a direct result of the interac- tion between him and his subjects. Modeling Affective Labor In the grimy context of Richardson’s There is something of a disconnection mise-­en-­scène, the “real” reportage of between denizens of these semicrimi- leaked celebrity sex tapes still seems nal and criminal environs (Richardson’s impossibly glamorous: beautiful people geographic particularity) and those who making love in a loving way, often in plush would peruse the coffee-­table Richardson surroundings, or engaged in seductive books or attend galleries to see his work. social media practices. In this respect, One could surmise — ­in the absence of as Thomas Fahy notes (2007: 79), there field data — ­that the images function as is an element of the aspirational to this educational, as historical documentation aesthetic: an unguarded insight into (in the manner now held to be the case for upper and (as with Paris Hilton) millionaire Mapplethorpe), as humorous diversions, classes. As with Playboy (or its aspirant as anti-­canonical (in their naïve aesthetics 1970s British variant, Park Lane), the erotic and artlessness), and as (failed?) pornog- frisson here also finds a foundation in a raphy. If Richardson is an artist (despite sense of material wealth or security: this this strategic artlessness) — ­one whose available woman as “earned” by the work status as such is validated by coffee-­table of the unseen man, and so available for books and art galleries, by the offering of his “use.” The look of seedy couplings a mitigating proviso of consent, through and sexualized joshing of Terryworld is the eponymous titles of the collections quite the opposite to the aspirational: the discussed here — ­then what kind of artistic milieu to be avoided. The online equivalent labor is Richardson engaging in, to these of Terryworld, in terms of the ugliness uncertain ends? of the aesthetic, would be confined to Standard ethical critiques of porno­ websites catering for particular fetishes: graphy industries, along the lines of the eroticization of rough working-­class exploitation of coerced or impaired

bodies; dogging, swinging, and group sex; models, are difficult to pin on Richardson. POLITICS scatological interests and the incorporation After all, these images are not associated of “gross out” behaviors with sexuality; with “extremes” of behavior — ­as with the girls feigning being underaged — ­that is, bukkake subset of pornography, or the the downwardly mobile, or semilegal, excremental and bloodied experiments of CULTURAL context of those who are “slumming it” the Viennese actionists, or BDSM cultures. 71 in order to satisfy minority interests. And The subjects of Kibosh and Terryworld do

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not seem to have found themselves, by an critiques of pornography do not still stand: unfortunate turn of circumstances, effec- the images might be said to be a fractional tively humiliated or in distress and unwill- contribution to an ecology of pornography ing before the camera. In fact, despite the veering toward suggestions of humilia- look of instantaneous reportage, the photo- tion, objectification, the normalization of graphs almost universally seem posed or, prostitution, and even damagingly idealized more appropriately, performed as live. notions of physical beauty.) This can be understood as part of Such a performance of these sexual a wider issue relating to technological narratives, for Kibosh, is one that, while issues in the transition to digital photog- courting scandal, is difficult to actually raphy: unlike their automated predeces- consider as scandalous or even sensation- sors, digital cameras are not always truly alist. Even within the orbit of feminism, instantaneous. Critically, milliseconds or the performance of sexuality as a mark of even whole seconds can pass while the a democratic right has come to be consid- camera finds its focus by automatically ered as empowering: as noted by Angela adjusting the lens — ­the lag between McRobbie as defanging feminist agency pressing the button to take a photo and (2009), and by Ariel Levy in relation to the the photo actually being taken. This often rise of raunch culture (2006); as cham- obliges the subject or subjects to adopt pioned by Hakim and even Naomi Wolf a kind of tableau vivant, performing (and (2012); and as giving rise to the sexualiza- understanding the need to perform) a tion of feminism as a shame-­free lifestyle freeze-­frame effect as they wait. Any run option — ­“Sexy Feminism” for Jennifer of frenzied sexual action for a Richardson Armstrong and Heather Rudúlph (2013).10 photograph needs to occur across some Richardson could even be said, to continue seconds if the performer understands that this line of thought, to bring about such a photograph will be taken of it. What then empowerment: to enable the performance occurs is familiar to theorists of live con- of sexuality and the realization of erotic temporary music and popular musicology: potential, so encouraging and bringing out the performance of, to use Philip Aus- the ability of everyone to perform in the lander’s term, “liveness” ([1999] 2008). manner of a porn star. The result is ontologically questionable: a All this occurs in the enclosed and form of authenticity as masking a content laboratory-­like condition of Kibosh, of inauthenticity — ­the most obvious exam- albeit with the occasional interloper in ple of which is a pop star lip-­synching to a frame, and is then tracked outdoors for 1

3:1 March 2017 prerecorded track during a “live” concert. Terryworld — ­and yet many of the latter’s • Those critical seconds of posing therefore images, with their models flattened are seconds of, it could be argued, compli- against minimalist white backgrounds ance on the part of those in the frame. At (in the manner of Andy Warhol’s factory

POLITICS their most subversive, where the subjects photographs), retain a sense of specimen-­

look unhappy (which is rare) or “out of subjects isolated for close examination. it” (not as rare, but not comatosed as per What occurs in this movement to the Arnold’s comments about), the images outside, and then continues beyond

CULTURAL may be understood to be a performance Terryworld, is a “pornification” of of noncompliance, but a performance everything, in the sense of making 72 nonetheless. (This is not to say that other everything redolent of pornography, or

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Figure 3 Richardson in the late 1990s. Still from Skin Flick, aka Skin Gang representing the world in a vulgar and to push people-­performers into feats of crude way, as if demonstrative sexual pornographic (rather than simply erotic) intercourse is the only vector through spectacle, seemingly beyond expectations which the world can be interpreted and and even comfort zones. And so this even, as noted above, rendering “actual” professional role, allied to management sexual encounters as modeled on of performance, is one that can be read behaviors and poses seen in pornographic directly in relation to affective labor. media. Even when Richardson eradicates Such a consideration of affective labor human subjects altogether, for Terrywood in relation to Richardson is a two-­stage (2012), the emptied landscapes are still operation. Firstly, and anecdotally, it is found to be pornified: anonymous urban seemingly a positive affective strategy vistas with the garish colors and signs for of interpersonal or prosocial skills that strip joints — ­the spaces of Los Angeles allows Richardson to achieve the images as if simply being between takes on that he does: affective labor as the porn sets. Richardson then becomes the essential means of production, as a way overseer of this operation of pornification. of being a strategic provocateur who In this respect, the nature of Richardson’s does not endanger the end result (the artistic labor becomes apparent: affective image) through excessive provocation. rather than material. This accounts for Richardson’s producing of his erect penis

both the ways in which Richardson during a photo shoot would be a fairly POLITICS seems to be more a producer than a Manichean situation: to either shut down director or creator of the work, and the the encounter or continue into the realm of sense of his presence even when unseen hard core. The real condemnation can be since behind the camera. Richardson’s saved for those who oversee the reversal CULTURAL professional role is that of on-­site of this operation: the generation of images provocateur, with the alchemical ability that speak of free will and consent while 73

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masking coercion and exploitation. Such narratives or encounters, is a master class an argument is made in relation to peer in affective scenarios. pressure and the societal imperatives of Service-industry­ (post-­Fordist) consid- “going wild” and raunch culture in relation erations of affective labor tended to remain, to Girls Gone Wild by Karen Pitcher (2006); in concept, periphery to the main business is the basis, too, of Victoria Coren’s of service itself: service “with a smile” concerns, in a journalistic investigation into remains service all the same. Matthew the making of pornography (see Coren Brannan charted, in 2005, what seemed 2012: 184); and is articulated by Zahm to be a transition from the periphery to the as fundamental in distancing Richardson center of service-­industry modus ope- from pornography in his introduction to randi — ­“the deployment of workers’ sexu- Terryworld (Zahm, quoted in Richardson ality in pursuit of organizational objectives,” 2012: unnumbered [13]). which Brannan terms “sexualized emotional Secondly, and more usefully, the labour” (2005: 421).13 In this instance, the images evidence this mode of affective interactions occur on the telephone: those labor. In this respect, Richardson’s work successfully flirting with clients, like those can be usefully considered in relation employed for sex-­chat lines, remain safe to the end moment of Negri’s arresting in the knowledge that they would not delineation of artistic phases of the meet those clients. For Brannan, flirtation modern era, each of which broadly seems is not just a way of getting ahead, and the to look to changing modes of labor and practice of the canny worker (as per Hakim). production.11 For Negri, art since 1968 can It is, more importantly, a key objective or be read as an exploration of the nature of even demand of the worker, as overseen, cognitive, affective, and immaterial labor: encouraged, and policed by crude office the diffused, or even invisible, means of managers. For the Invisible Committee, production of the postindustrial, post-­ the “emotional” element can be removed Fordist, and neoliberal age.12 In short: in altogether: “sexualized labor” as the way Richardson’s photography, the role of in which successful businesses and senior the contemporary worker comes to be managers come to fully integrate sexual seen. And this is in dialectical opposition activity, or their sex lives, into their working to the abstractions of the expressionist methods and lives (2009: 47). Earlier, Negri, phase: Richardson’s focus is often close, with Guattari, had noted a running together but not so close that the images begin to of work and private life, at the behest of degenerate into pixelated patterns. The global capital, moving toward neoliberal 1

3:1 March 2017 alignment of methodology and equipment models of industry: “Deterritorialized pro- • is quite correct in this respect: the T5’s duction signifies that work and life are no 35mm lens continues to capture fine detail longer separate” (1990: 22). To return to the even when the photos are reproduced to Playboy comparison: Richardson’s images

POLITICS a substantial size — ­the texture of skin, the are not, then, the finding of erotic frissons

specifics of veins on Richardson’s penis, in the working environment and its denizens the milkiness of his sperm, and so on. but the remaking of the working environ- Thus the images are forcibly figurative: the ment and interactions therein along the

CULTURAL body is present in forensic detail. What lines of erotic interactions. This provocation seems to be occurring, through the sexual raises questions for numerous fields that 74

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MODELING AFFECTIVE LABOR seek to critically theorize and understand Notes labor — ­or mount resistance to neoliberal 1. This can be purchased through Amazon.com forms of exploitation, or disentangle ideas and American Apparel for US$75 at the time of of empowerment and exploitation — ­but writing. Richardson has a branded pair of actual particularly fields associated with feminism glasses, too: “Terry,” in the Salt Optics range. Terry Richardson is a New York – born (1965) and managerialism. photographer, whose itinerant childhood and In these ways, as an exemplar early life included periods spent in the United exerting a centrifugal force over Western States and Europe, particularly New York, Los working methods, affective labor becomes Angeles, and London, and was colored, by his increasingly tied to that most (biologically) own account, by family problems and periods affective of responses: sexual impulses. of poverty. After leaving school, Richardson One could go further and consider this to followed his initial ambitions and played be close to one of the frontiers of out- bass in a variety of punk bands in southern sourcing: to undercut rivals, one comes to California. Richardson’s father had been a noted offer one’s body as “value added” or an photographer, as discussed below; his mother “in-­kind” resource, to finesse the winning was an actress, and his stepfather, Jackie of a contract. But this is not the classic and Lomax, had been a British pop and rock musician opportunist “power couple” or even “fuck of some note. Richardson’s photographic work has been a continual source of controversy, as buddy” arrangement, in which sexual mat- considered to evidence working methods that ters remain a matter of mutual respect and are little more than cover for sexual coercion and enjoyment. It is, rather, a matter of human assault, even to the extent that galleries seem resources and portfolio management. In reluctant to mount retrospectives and art critics this, the worker is understood as a body to praise his work. available for exploitation — ­but a freed 2. “Porn chic” can be understood as a recovery and rather than shackled slave, or a sexual role use of the aesthetics of pornography from former player rather than hired prostitute: one who years as an accoutrement to contemporary is willing to enter into such relationships, cultural practices, especially around T-­shirts, even performing faux feelings, but requir- night clubs and themed parties, sampling and ing nudgelike provocations from the on-­site DJing, “bad film” nights, sporting “hipster” manager to go the one step further. And facial hair, films such asBoogie Nights (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997) and Auto Focus the context for these developments and (dir. Paul Schrader, 2002), coffee-­table books new ways of earning a living in the West is such as Danish Porn (Nordstøm 2012) and the far from the aspirational and lush in these like, translating the jarringly unfashionable images, as once associated with main- look of yesteryear into the cutting edge of the stream erotica. Richardson’s crack-­house contemporary. More generally, such “vintage,” mise-­en-­scène is one that resonates with “retro,” or even “nostalgic” pornography, as a precarity and poverty: the scuzzy aesthet- niche interest, is well catered for on the Internet. ics of 1970s sexual exploitation come to be Certainly, however, it is more often a question of reappropriating the look of the male who seen to anticipate something of the psy- POLITICS chology of contemporary practices of the was once found at the center of this hedonistic extraction of labor value from the work- maelstrom (moustachioed, unlikely as a model by force. In Richardson’s photography, such today’s norms, and seemingly unreconstructed in his perception of gendered role models), rather new models of the worker and affective CULTURAL than being a pole of aspiration for females. labor are traumatically apparent. 75

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The application of the term to Richardson’s 5. This is not to say that the model is expected work by journalists and cultural commentators to lead the critique in the face of having raised has been attacked as reductive and misleading concerns about the nature of the photo shoot; by Richardson’s collaborator and publisher Olivier Ahmed’s call for a recovery of the figure of the Zahm: “Pornography is not only fake, stupid feminist killjoy suggests that the commentariat and dangerous, it does not exist. It’s a pure (both journalistic and editorial, and academic) construction, an illusion. Terry’s pictures are would be better placed to do so. While her article the opposite of that. They are deconstructing is dedicated to “all the feminist killjoys” (“you this faux veneer. That is why it’s so infuriating know who you are!”; Ahmed 2010: n1), Ahmed is to hear the press call his work ‘porn chic’ or not prescriptive in saying who they are. ‘porn glamour’ ” (quoted in Richardson 2012: 6. These rules, and general philosophy, seem unnumbered [13]). Aside from the assumption to have dated rapidly, even for those not in that the charge is necessarily pejorative, the ambit of second wave feminism; a 1993 Zahm intimates that “porn chic” masks that episode of the comedy The Larry Sanders Show postmodern tendency for freely assembling (“Broadcast Nudes”) sees Hefner, playing disparate aesthetic vernaculars. Richardson, himself, reject an offer of a photo spread of for Zahm, works against such ontologically the personal assistant to the talk show host’s questionable reconstruction in his return to sidekick, to be called “The Sidekick’s Sidekick,” a kind of unfiltered reportage — ­a return that on the grounds that it is “a circa 1975 idea,” to is certainly not locked into any one particular the fury of the sidekick. moment or phase of chic-­ness. And ideally, 7. As with, for example, “Untitled (Self Portrait)” glamour photography, as Zahm notes of his (and of 1973 of Mapplethorpe in metal and leather Christopher Niquet’s and Richardson’s) work with bondage gear, and “Self-­Portrait” of 1978, with a Lindsay Lohan, ought to encompass “a realm of whip’s handle inserted into his anus. darkness [as much] as of light” (Zahm 2010: 64): 8. Kibosh is a term of uncertain origins meaning a full and challenging emotional spectrum, and to restrain or stop — ­to “put the kibosh” on one not just beholden to the ebbs and flows of something. Such a literal reading is comically the fashionable. inappropriate for Richardson, since Kibosh just 3. For an overview of Polaroid technology and keeps going with its record of unrestraint. cultures, see Peter Buse (2007). 9. Terryworld was published in the same year as 4. Hardt and Negri later note that affective labor Kibosh, with which it shares some images, but is deeply embedded in the understanding of one senses that Kibosh, looking backward, what it means to act as a female, especially in a archived work that had been done while blue-­collar capacity (2009: 134). On the question Terryworld represented contemporary work. of the profession of modeling itself as affective, Some of the faces who appear in Terryworld and expectations on the model, as often prone indicate the artistic milieu in which Richardson to precarious labor conditions in this respect too, perhaps places himself, and with some 1

3:1 March 2017 see Elizabeth Wissinger (2007). justification: Dennis Hopper (whose photography • In addition to Hardt and Negri, Félix ceased in 1967, but documented a very particular Guattari, and The Invisible Committee (all cited scene: the counterculture and its context before in this article), other theorists working in the field its institutionalization in the Summer of Love and of theorizing such new forms of labor include beyond); Harmony Korine (whose various media POLITICS Paolo Virno and Maurizio Lazzarato (see Virno works deal with often extremes of outsiderism, and Hardt 1996; particularly section 2, “Working poverty, and the defacing of popular culture); in Post-­Fordism”) and Ephemera’s special issue the Jackass performers (whose MTV television “Immaterial and Affective Labor: Explored” show of 2000 – 2002 challenged ideas of taste CULTURAL (Dowling, Nunes, and Trott 2007). and decorum through the staging of stunts and

76 “candid camera” moments); and Chloë Sevigny

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and Vincent Gallo (who together, in Gallo’s 2003 11. This is not to say that Richardson’s work can be filmThe Brown Bunny, performed an extended read in support of Negri’s revolutionary position scene of fellatio, with Gallo reputedly directing on art and immaterial labor, which ultimately and filming and receiving). seeks to rethink the Kantian sublime in terms 10. For further discussion of the sexualized nature of understanding contemporary, globalized of third wave feminism, see Halligan (2013); on processes of the abstraction of labor, and the public performance of sexuality or sexual finding these processes of abstraction, and the narratives as feminist protest, in relation to the oppositions that they engender, in art after 1968 SlutWalk movement, see Halligan (2015b). The (Negri 2011: 120 – 23). Rather, I am proposing that circulation of Richardson’s images across media Richardson’s work evidences an aspect of that platforms, as noted above, and especially of process of abstraction, and so shows something former teen starlets such as Lohan and Cyrus, of the nature of contemporary labor, but works to invite a consideration of these images arguably with a negligible critical distance from in debates allied to third wave feminism. While it — ­something that is, perhaps, the task of the much of the strategic thinking that informed critical writer, in relation to attempting to find second wave feminism looked to forms and in Richardson’s art those roots that, for Vladimir practices of withdrawal from patriarchal cultures Lenin, “should be deeply implanted in the very (and even geographical areas), so that debates thick of the laboring masses” (Lenin 1978: 231). concerning representation and dignity were Negri’s historical delineation (“rough, perceived as merely tactical at best and a waste of course, but nonetheless real” [2011: 102]; of time as worse, third wave feminists sought a “broad-­brush description [that] does not to storm back into and disrupt these areas. In pretend to offer a new narration of the history this, popular culture was now targeted as an, if of art” [108]) is found in his 2008 paper not the, arena for battle, especially in relation to “Metamorphoses: Art and Immaterial Labour” its all-­pervasive nature and the ways in which (see Negri 2011: 101 – 23). Firstly, Negri notes a it was understood to normalize standards of new realism allied to the “massification — ­crude behavior and appearance, particularly for the and powerful — ­of working class labour,” during young and impressionable. Richardson’s public a phase in which class struggle is deemed as persona, which I here refer to as “Terry,” seems central to capitalist development: 1848 – 70. designed to draw fire in this context, even to the Secondly, impressionism is allied to a phase in point of Terry seemingly seeking to embody, in a which the worker comes to grasp that the means porn chic manner, and deliberately or otherwise, of production can be dissolved and reformed or the violent and predatory male that second wave reterritorialized (in terms of self-­management) feminists would have felt, in the 1970s, to be on the workers’ own terms: a process in which beyond reform, and so prompting their exodus. “creation lay in dissolution” (103), and this is Even an early Terry appearance, in Bruce dated to 1871 – 1914. Both these phases are LaBruce’s gay porn filmSkin Flick (also known as related to the age of the skilled worker (106). Skin Gang, 1999), has the photographer winding Thirdly, expressionism, which is read across up in an argument with a stranger with whom the period 1917 – 29, comes to reflect the he engages in an impromptu outdoors shoot, abstraction of labor, which occurs at the behest asking, “Let me see your ass a little bit” and of industry (on the cusp of post-­Fordism) and cooing “I love that!” and “That’s so sexy!” After empowers the worker: it is a resistance to the POLITICS she exposes, and so ruins, his film, and he calls imposed conditions of increased production, her a “cunt,” “bitch,” and “slut,” he is berated, as well as forming revolutionary proletarian slapped, and eventually chased off by the furious subjectivity — ­“the very material for an amateur model: “Dirty bastard! I’ll fucking put my alternative imagination” (104). Fourthly, an CULTURAL fucking boot right up your fucking ass! Bet you unnamed phase runs across 1929 – 68, given over

might like it too, huh?” to the “geometrical destructuring of the real” 77

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(105) and the “socialist management of . . . Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics 14 abstraction” (106), often via a simplification of (1): 1 – 16. artistic gestures: a process of demystification, Auslander, Philip. (1999) 2008. Liveness: Performance in which could be said to resonate in art read as a Mediatized Culture. London: Routledge. postmodern, such as pop art. From 1968 to the Baudrillard, Jean. (1983) 2008. Fatal Strategies. present, with “the end of the mass worker” (113), Translated by Philippe Beotchman and W. G. J. art and cognitive labor power are understood Niesluchowski. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e). to be in dialogue in relation to a common Billboard. 2015. “Miley Cyrus Thanks Terry Richardson undercurrent of affective and immaterial labor. for Not Removing Her Armpit Hair in Photo.” 12. Immaterial labor is typically theorized as Billboard, June 23, www.billboard.com/articles a matter of “ideas, symbols, codes, texts, /news/6605709/miley-­cyrus-­terry-­richardson linguistic figures, images” (Hardt and Negri 2005: -­armpit-­hair. 108) — ­and where the exchange value of these Brannan, Matthew J. 2005. “Once More with Feeling: outcomes is often predicated on further sets of Ethnographic Reflections on the Mediation of variables often devoid of a precise connection to Tension in a Small Team of Call Centre Workers.” day-­to-­day existence. Gender, Work, and Organization 12 (5): 420 – 39. 13. Tellingly, Brannan’s data and ethnographic Buse, Peter. 2007. “Photography Degree Zero: Cultural reflections, drawn from a West Midlands call History of the Polaroid Image.” New Formations center, go under the same title — ­Once More with 62: 29 – 44. Feeling — ­as Coren and Charlie Skelton’s 2012 Coren, Victoria. 2012. “Vicky’s Crisis,” In Coren and investigation into the making of pornographic Skelton 2012: 184 – 201. films. The common thread is that both those Coren, Victoria, and Charlie Skelton. 2012. Once More, working in call centers (customer service with Feeling: How We Tried to Make the Greatest representatives) and on the sets of pornographic Porn Film Ever. London: Fourth Estate. films invariably need to fake emotions through Davies, Dan. 2015. In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of performance in order to suggest the sincerity Jimmy Savile. London: Quercus. involved in their work. However, genuine feelings Dowling, Emma, Rodrigo Nunes, and Ben Trott, eds. of attraction are not excluded from the conception 2007. “Immaterial and Affective Labor: of contemporary labor: affectiveness is bluntly Explored.” Special issue, Ephemera 7 (1), www sexualized for the food chain Pret a Manger, .ephemerajournal.org/issue/immaterial-­and where management seems to have been happy -­affective-­labour-­explored. to waive the cost of the occasional cup of coffee Fahy, Thomas. 2007. “One Night in Paris (Hilton): if it will firm up flirtatious interactions between Wealth, Celebrity, and the Politics of customer and waiter or waitress (Stephens 2015). Humiliation.” In Pop-­Porn: Pornography in American Culture, edited by Ann C. Hall and References Mardia J. Bishop, 75 – 98. Westport, CT: Praeger. Ahmed, Sara. 2010. “Feminist Killjoys (And Other Foster, Olivia. 2015. “Man Confronts Controversial 1

3:1 March 2017 Photographer Terry Richardson for Being a • Willful Subjects).” Polyphonic Feminisms: Acting

in Concert 8 (3), sfonline.barnard.edu/polyphonic ‘Creep’ — ­And Captures the Encounter on /print_ahmed.htm. Camera.” Daily Mail, July 29, www.dailymail Armstrong, Jennifer Keishin, and Heather Wood .co.uk/femail/article-­3179134/Man-­confronts -controversial-­ ­photographer-­Terry-­Richardson

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Halligan, Benjamin. 2015a. “Intimate Live Girls.” In Negri, Antonio, and Félix Guattari. 1990. Communists The Arena Concert: Music, Media, and Mass Like Us: New Spaces of Liberty, New Lines of Entertainment, edited by Robert Edgar, Kirsty Alliance. New York: Semiotext(e). Fairclough-­Isaacs, Benjamin Halligan, and Nicola Nelson, Sara C. 2014. “Facebook Breastfeeding Spelman, 289 – 305. New York: Bloomsbury. Photo Ban Lifted after #FreeTheNipple Halligan, Benjamin. 2015b. “ ‘My Uterus Doesn’t Expel Campaign.” Huffington Post UK, June 12, www Rape Sperm’: SlutWalk and the Activist Legacy .huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/06/11/facebook of the Suffragettes.” In Suffragette Legacy: How -­breastfeeding-­photo-­ban-­lifted-­freethenipple Does the History of Feminism Inspire Current -­campaign-­pictures_n_5484788.html. Thinking in Manchester, edited by Camilla Mørk Nordstøm, Jen, ed. 2012. Dansk Porno/Danish Porn. Røstvik and Ella Louise Sutherland, 45 – 72. Copenhagan: Nordstromsforlag. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars. O’Hagan, Sean. 2004. “Good Clean Fun?” Observer, Hardt, Michael, and Antonio Negri. 2005. Multitude: October 17, www.theguardian.com/film/2004 War and Democracy in the Age of Empire. /oct/17/photography.art. London: Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Books. Pigozzi, Jean. 1979. Pigozzi’s Journal of the Seventies. Hardt, Michael, and Antonio Negri. 2009. New York: Doubleday/Dolphin. Commonwealth. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Pitcher, Karen C. 2006. “The Staging of Agency in Press of Harvard University Press. Girls Gone Wild.” Critical Studies in Media Hot Mess, Lil Miss. 2015. “Selfies and Side-­Eye: Drag Communication 23, (3): 200 – 218. Queens Take on Facebook.” Studies in Gender Preciado, Beatriz. 2014. Pornotopia: An Essay on and Sexuality 16 (2): 144 – 46. Playboy’s Architecture and Biopolitics. New York: Howe, Peter. 2005. Paparazzi. New York: Artisan/ Zone Books. Workman. Richardson, Terry. 2004. Kibosh. Bologna: Damiani “I Miss the Old Terry.” Tumblr, www.tumblr.com Editore. /search/I+MISS+THE+OLD+TERRY or Richardson, Terry. (2004) 2012. Terryworld. Köln: imisstheoldterry-acopy.tumblr.com­ (accessed Taschen. June 2015). Richardson, Terry. 2012. Terrywood. Bologna: Damiani. The Invisible Committee. 2009. The Coming Richardson, Terry. 2015. Terry Richardson. 2 vols. New Insurrection. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e). York: Rizzoli. Lenin, Vladimir I. 1978. On Culture and Cultural Steffen, Nicola. 2014. Porn Chic: Die Pornifizierung des Revolution. Moscow: Progress. Alltags (Porn Chic: The Pornification of Everyday Levy, Ariel. 2006. Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and Life). München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag. the Rise of Raunch Culture. London: Simon and Stephens, Ben. 2015. “Why Pret’s Coffee Giveaway Schuster. Leaves a Bad Taste.” Marketing, April 24, www Levy, William, ed. 1973. Wet Dreams: Films and .marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1344291/why Adventures. Amsterdam: Joy. -prets-­ ­coffee-giveaway-­ ­leaves-­bad-­taste. Maddison, Stephen. 2009. “From Porn Chic to Testa, Jessica. 2015. “Pussy Riot Member Apologises Porn Fear: The Return of the Repressed?” In for Terry Richardson Photo Shoot.” Buzzfeed, Mainstreaming Sex: The Sexualisation of Western June 19, www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/terry Culture, edited by Feona Attwood, 37 – 54. -richardson-­ ­pussy-riot#.uixbbgm1R.­ London: I. B. Tauris. Thielman, Sam. 2016. “Roger Ailes Biographer: ‘The McRobbie, Angela. 2009. The Aftermath of Feminism: Impact Could Be Greater than Phone Hacking.’ ” POLITICS Gender, Culture, and Social Change. London: Guardian, August 21, www.theguardian.com Sage. /media/2016/aug/21/roger-­ailes-­gabriel Negri, Antonio. 2011. Art and Multitude: Nine Letters -sherman-­ fox-­ ­news-­book-rightwing-­ media.­ on Art, Followed by Metamorphosis: Art and Trebay, Guy. 2004. “Fashion Diary; What Fashion Owes CULTURAL Immaterial Labour. Translated by Ed Emery. to XXX.” New York Times, September 12,

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Benjamin Halligan

Virno, Paolo, and Michael Hardt, eds. 1996. Radical Television Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics. Minneapolis: The Benny Hill Show. Directed by various. 1955–91; University of Minnesota Press. United Kingdom: Associated-Rediffusion, Wissinger, Elizabeth. 2007. “Modelling a Way of Life: Thames Television. Immaterial and Affective Labour in the Fashion “Broadcast Nudes.” The Larry Sanders Show, season 2, Modelling Industry.” Ephemera: Theory and episode 11. Directed by Todd Holland. 1993; Los Politics in Organisation 7 (1): 250 – 69. Angeles: Brillstein-­Grey Entertainment, Columbia Wolf, Naomi. 2012. Vagina: A New Biography. London: Pictures Television, HBO. Virago. Girls Gone Wild. DVDs. Directed by various. Zahm, Olivier. 2010. “Best of Season.” Purple Fashion 1997 – 2011; various locations: Girls Gone Wild. Magazine 3 (13): 62 – 99. Jackass. Directed by various. 2000 – 2002; Los Angeles: MTV. Filmography Sesame Street. Directed by various. 1969 – present; Auto Focus. 35mm print. Directed by Paul Schrader. Los Angeles: Children’s Television Workshop, 2002; Los Angeles: Sony Pictures Classics. Sesame Workshop. Boogie Nights. 35mm print. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. 1997; Los Angeles: New Line Cinema. The Brown Bunny. 35mm print. Directed by Vincent Gallo. 2003; Berlin: Wild Bunch. Skin Flick, aka Skin Gang. DVD transfer from 35mm print. Directed by Bruce LaBruce. 1999; Berlin: Jürgen Brüning Productions. Woodstock. 35mm print. Directed by Michael Wadleigh. 1970; Los Angeles: Warner Bros. Zabriskie Point. 35mm print. Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. 1969; Los Angeles: Metro-­Goldwyn-­Meyer. 1 3:1 March 2017 •

POLITICS

Benjamin Halligan is the director of the Doctoral College for the University of Wolverhampton. He is the author of Michael Reeves (2003) and Desires for Reality: Radicalism and Revolution in Western European Film (2016), and coeditor of Mark E. Smith CULTURAL and the Fall (2010), Reverberations (2012), Resonances (2013), The Music Documentary

80 (2013), and The Arena Concert (2015).

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