Terrorist performance art. Coleman crashes suburban parties in Connecticut with explosives strapped to his chest. (See Haden-Guest essay, p. 33.)
1976-1977
Panhandling performances. Coleman wanders New York City streets as a scarred, one-legged derelict.
1976-1980
Coleman performs with The Steel Tips at various nightclubs, strip clubs, bars, a prison, an insane asylum, and a benefit for female alcoholics at a church in the New York / New Jersey / Pennsylvania area.
1978
Coleman as “Mad Dog” performs with Steel Tips, The Uncle Floyd Show (New Jersey cable TV)
Uncle Ted’s Ghoul Show (Pennsylvania cable TV) Coleman cameos on the set as a “monster robot” and Rondo the Self-Decapitating Wonder.
“Ten-year high-school reunion” performance as Doug Sprag, Oceanside, Long Island. Coleman impersonates a deceased class member, exploding and disappearing at the end of the evening. Police arrive to find that the perp has been dead for years.
1981
The Kitchen, New York, NY. First art-world performance as exploding geek Professor Mombooze-o.
1986
Professor Mombooze-o performance, Wooster Gallery, New York, NY
1987
Professor Mombooze-o performance, Cuando Theater, New York, NY
1988
Lecture about the artist’s paintings and comics at Yale University, New Haven, CT
Lecture and screening at The Göteborg Film Festival, Göteborg, Sweden. Coleman talks about the psychotronic, porno, and underground films he and Nancy Pivar had collected and screened throughout the decade.
Lecture and screening at The Werkstattkino, Munich, Germany. See above.
Professor Mombooze-o performance, Hotel Amazon, New York, NY. (A “midnight horror show” featuring the Professor, see Haden-Guest essay, p. 23)
Amok Press presents: “The Archive of Doctor Mombooze-o,” DCTV, New York, NY. Coleman allows to be screened publicly for the first time his private collection of rare 16mm hardcore porn films and autopsy/homicide investigation tapes.
1989
Professor Mombooze-o performance at a parking lot in Venice Beach, CA. (A scheduled performance at The Bridge, in Los Angeles, was stopped by the Fire Department, animal rights groups, and the police. Coleman spread the word that the audience could see him do the performance by the light of car headlights at the public beach.)
Final performance as Mombooze-o, Boston Film and Video Foundation, Boston, MA. (Whereat Coleman is arrested for possessing an “infernal machine”.)
Lecture/screening at “Cult Rapture” exhibition opening, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA.
1996
Coleman performs as a sideshow barker at Coney Island during filming of R.I.P: Rest in Pieces (see Films)
1997
Lecture at “End Is Near!” show. American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.
1998
An audience with the artist (Q&A at UK launch party for Original Sin), Horse Hospital, London.
1999
Lecture followed by performance by Hasil Adkins, American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore.
Lecture accompanied by film screening during “Original Sin” exhibition, Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, CT.
Exploding preacherman at Disinfo.com Conference, Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY. Coleman resurrects Professor Mombooze-o to get in touch with the Spirit-God of Explosives for his painting The Big Bang Theory. The remains of the shirt worn during this performance are later incorporated into the painting.
