XSCREEN.

(Cologne): XScreen, 1971.  First edition.  Rare poster for showing of Andy Warhol’s film Couch at the Cologne Art Fair from the 5 October – 9 October, 1971.  Wilhelm and Birgit Hein founded XScreen in 1968, a gallery for subculture performances and program work for diverse cinemas.  They were instrumental  in promoting the moving image as a means of provocation, subversion and documentation of the most intimate type.  The couch at Andy Warhol’s Factory was as famous in its own right as any of his Superstars. In Couch, visitors to the Factory were invited to “perform” on camera, seated on the old couch. Their many acts-both lascivious and mundane-are documented in a film that has come to be regarded as one of the most notorious of Warhol’s early works.  The film featured amongst others Gerard Malanga, Piero Heliczer, Naomi Levine, Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, John Palmer, Baby Jane Holzer, Ivy Nicholson, Amy Taubin, Ondine, Peter Orlovsky, Jack Kerouac, and Taylor Mead.  The poster also advertises the showings of Otto Muehl’s film Scheibkerl and John A. Malcolm’s porno Family Affairs.  The poster measures 42cm by 30cm, and features a still from Couch.  Good condition only, with toning to edges with some short tears, old creasing and a few odd marks.  Still a presentable example of this rare poster.