Bob Flanagan & Rose Sheree : visiting hours interview.

A rare interview with Bob Flanagan and Sheree Rose conducted by Franklin Furnace Founding Director Martha Wilson and her partner, Vince Bruns. Set in the exhibit Visiting Hours: An Installation by Bob Flanagan in collaboration with Sheree Rose at the New Museum, the interview details the duo's performance art practice. Throughout, Flanagan and Rose discuss the sexual politics of art; pain as an art medium; the gaze of receiving and witnessing pain; art as an erotic gesture; and the spiritual in art. These topics are further discussed in the larger context of performance art history, referencing the erotic work of Ron Athey and Annie Sprinkle in relationship to Flanagan's performances with Rose.

Bob Flanagan and Sheree Rose began their artistic collaboration in the late 1980's Los Angeles club and art scenes. Their performance, photography, and video work integrates elements of BDSM, which culminated in the exhibit 'Visiting Hours' at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and at the New Museum. After Flanagan's death to cystic fibrosis in 1996, Rose continued to make artwork honoring Flanagan's legacy and their collaboration. Rose made contributions to the documentary, 'Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist,' which premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded a Special Jury Prize. She was commissioned by Japan to produce 'Boballoon,' a 20-foot inflatable statue of Flanagan that was exhibited at Big Space in Tokyo. Rose shows her photography at international galleries, including the Coagula in Los Angeles, Tate Modern in Liverpool, and Jeu de Paume in Paris, and has presented multiple performances at Highways Performance Space and Gallery in Santa Monica. Long after Flanagan's death, his artwork with Rose continues to be a model for artists dealing with illness and death.