Ten years ago, Chicks on Speed (CoS) were mainly a name, one that sounded really cool but indicated little in the way of what it was they did so fast. By now, of course, it has become clear that Chicks on Speed are not a band, or a group of artists, or a fashion label – they are a new model of artistic production for the 21st century, leaving the romantic artist choking on exhaust smoke far behind.
So leave the agonising / heroic / macho / genius artist to his tubercular cough in his lonesome garret and revel in true internationalism (Melissa Logan was born in the U.S., Alex Murray-Leslie in Australia and Kiki Moorse in Germany), a spirit of collaboration (over the ten years they have spent together, Chicks on Speed have formed a vast creative network of collaborators, artists, musicians, designers and film makers) and an interdisciplinary approach to rival the biggest brands in today’s corporate landscape.
Deliberately blurring the borders between performance and visual art, music, theatre and fashion, CoS have consistently avoided categorisation. Neither an ‘art band’ nor an artistic experiment in pop, but simply an exciting, confusing, challenging mish-mash of styles, ideas and practices, their work fuses gallery based installations with pop and live and recorded music with visual art.
More a ‘way’ of doing things than a group or a place like Warhol’s Factory, the day glo universe of the Chicks continues to expand into new territories. Be it a Fluxus inspired critique of branding or simply a more fun, slightly subversive way of operating in the market driven culture industry, Chicks on Speed have always wanted to touch on everything: from high profile stadium concerts to squat Djing, from taking part in some of the world’s most lucrative art fairs to exhibiting in fashion boutiques, artist run or improvised spaces.
www.chicksonspeed.com