Macho Mel: Read Our Convo With the Endlessly Fascinating Mel Shimkovitz On Trans Vampires, Meeting William Burroughs, and Making It In Hollywood →

October 1, 2015

In the following interview, we have a long chat with Mel Shimkovitz about Trans vampires, her Zelig-like position in the music, art and Hollywood worlds, and the media’s sudden shift in focus toward the lives and rights of the LGBTQ community. Click here to read the full convo.

CATEGORIES: ART / CULTURE / MUSIC / FILM PROSE / DESIGN / FASHION

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Today is the day. The legendary @bjork releases her powerful and immersive concert film Cornucopia on @appletv 7PM PT “From the jagged, volcanic, icy fjords of Iceland, Björk Guðmundsdóttir—known simply by her stage name Björk—has descended on the world of popular music over the past five decades with a sensual, otherworldly presence. Her music is constantly of the moment but also seemingly years ahead of its time with a starkly alarming prescience, especially regarding the human impact on nature and the climate. Today, she presents Cornucopia, streaming on Apple TV, a cinematic encapsulation of a “digital theater” tour extravaganza that is the culmination of dozens of shows across multiple continents.” #bjork #cornucopia

“Two weeks before my home was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, I created a video of a man racing through fire. At the time of its creation, I was not concerned about fire, and yet only days later, I would be racing through a fiery landscape of my community. Fire has since defined my life. I believe art comes outside of time, from the place of dreams, where experiences occur outside the tedious march of causality. It can be divinatory, but I do not care to burden it with this kind of heavy meaning. I prefer to make and enjoy art without the technology of meaning, remaining in a liminal state as I work. Living in this state, however, has been one of the greatest challenges of my life.” @rosssimonini on autre.love #eatonfire #losangeles #wildfire

For David Lynch, cinema was a magic lantern with which to project all our darkest dreams and desires. His ambition wasn’t fear, but transcendence using the endless possibilities of sight and sound provided by the celluloid medium. Only a few auteurs have tapped into this psychological live wire. Each scene was a high voltage testament to his cinematic vision: violent, desirous, mysterious hallucinations come to life on the silver screen. The audience becomes a ghost watching down or up or into the characters who haunted us as much as we haunted them. His films were mirrors facing mirrors facing infinity in a tunnel of dreams. We were the shore and he was the ocean bringing us relics of our subconscious; artifacts from our id jutting up from the sand dunes of our memories. We loved David Lynch because we could peer over the precipice without falling. And if we did fall, we fell in love, lust, heartache. The pangs of death were palpable. We were lost in the smoke. Lost in the revery. There was no way out but through. #davidlynch

“Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.” David Lynch enters the ethereal realm to join Angelo Badalamenti. Photographed together in 2016 #davidlynch

We are alive and safe from what will likely be one of the most destructive fire events in modern history. Vesuvian in its enormity and historicity, but also in its lessons on living close to the proverbial volcano, these fires have impacted everyone we know. Our psychic wounds will last forever. Beyond the misinformation and politics, it is important to understand that the era of the pyrocene is at our doorstep. There is no more pontificating, no more waiting, no more what ifs, no more when. The megafires are here. It is only: what now and why? Yesterday, we experienced the devastation firsthand. We broke through multiple barriers to reach the Pacific Palisades only to find the neighborhood entirely in ruins. A family home gone forever. We sifted through the ashen remains of books still smoldering, the ghosts of hundreds of homes glowing toward an orange horizon, burned to the studs. Most everything was unrecognizable. A few flames were burning what was left. In 2019, we spoke to fire ecologist and world authority on chaparral brushfire, Richard Minnich, who spoke to us in depth about how and why these fires have become so massive and so destructive. Rapid changes in climate are part of the equation, but so is one hundred years of fire suppression policies and our collective delusions of ecological grandeur. This fire event was decades in the making. Ecologists, scientists, climate predictors all saw it coming. To live in paradise is to know all things eventually come to an end; to enjoy the memories. Now is the time to heal, to be with family, to help those in need. “Everything goes, everything comes back; eternally rolls the wheel of being” #lafires #palisadesfire #eatonfire

Starting off 2025 with LOVE. 🔗 in bio. Over the last few months, @stefswoods and @ryanmolnar visited five couples in and outside of Berlin, each “each living their own unique love story” to explore what love means to them. Here are Roman and Norman at their home in Brieselang. Their romance started nearly two decades ago when Norman, a spiritual guide and healer, had a last minute cancellation and Roman filled the slot. When their eyes first met, they both experienced what they describe as a “loud silence” accompanied by an “intense flow of intimacy.” Direction & Styling by @stefswoods Photography by @ryanmolnar Words by @cameronworsley Producer by Austin Huq Casting by @camerondavid__ Hair by Noriko @norinorinorikohair Make up by @anri_omori @erika_leadbeater

In our latest culture war, Pippa Garner was already a decorated veteran, fighting both church and state with biting wit and whiplash ingenuity. Discussing her gender reassignment surgery in Brussels in 1993 with @hansulrichobrist in AUTRE SS23 Utopia Issue: “For me, the sex change thing was a material act. I never had a sense of being born in the wrong body. I had what they call a vaginoplasty. Now, part of me is European [laughs].” Philippa Venus Garner (May 22, 1942-December 30, 2024) #pippagarner

PIPPA VENUS GARNER (May 22, 1942-December 30, 2024). Appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson demonstrating the Half-Suit. 1977. #pippagarner

PIPPA VENUS GARNER (May 22, 1942-December 30, 2024) Revolutionary, ahead of her time, and beyond prescient—she saw the world before it happened. We were lucky enough to feature her in our SS23 Utopia Issue. An interview with @hansulrichobrist : “You know, I’m just at an appliance, like that radio over there, or the car sitting outside. The body that I was assigned to, I didn’t pick it. I didn’t say I want to be white, middle class, and heterosexual. So, if I am nothing more than another appliance, why not have some fun with it?” Photographs by @jesperdlund at her home in Long Beach, California #pippagarner #utopia #rip

Goodbye 2024… Hello 2025 #newyear #newfear

Nick Sethi. A YEAR IN PARTIES. 2024 was a vibe. From brat summer ( @hansulrichobrist in conversation with @charli_xcx ) before her stratosphere launch) to ‘what the fuck’ fall (our fw citizen issue explores the precarity of democracy), we celebrated almost 1000 pages of interviews, essays, photo editorials, fashion stories and visits to almost every continent, with some epic events, big and small, intimate and overwhelming. From a Chinatown gangster hangout in San Francisco during the @fogfair to an intimate dinner and rager at @wehoedition to a tiny hang at the @fasano on 5th Ave in NYC to a twilight cocktail in LA with @halfgallery and finally an in store kickback with @stoneisland in nyc 1. Nick Sethi. Stone Island New York, November 7th. Cocktail celebration for FW24 Citizen Issue and zine collaboration with Stone Island. Photo by Oliver Kupper 2. Zine by Nick Sethi. Stone Island New York, November 7th. Cocktail celebration for FW24 Citizen Issue and zine collaboration with Stone Island. Photo by Oliver Kupper 3. Oliver Misraje. Half Gallery Los Angeles, June 8th. Cocktail celebration for SS24 Levity Issue. Photo by Oliver Kupper 4. Isabelle Albuquerque. Half Gallery Los Angeles, June 8th. Cocktail celebration for SS24 Levity Issue. Photo by Oliver Kupper 5. Ally Hilfiger. Half Gallery Los Angeles, June 8th. Cocktail celebration for SS24 Levity Issue. Photo by Oliver Kupper #stoneisland #endofyear #lookback #party #cocktails

JT Firstman. A YEAR IN PARTIES. 2024 was a vibe. From brat summer (@hansulrichlbrist in conversation with @charli_xcx before her stratosphere launch) to ‘what the fuck’ fall (our citizen issue explores the precarity of democracy ), we celebrated almost 1000 pages of interviews, essays, photo editorials, fashion stories and visits to almost every continent, with some epic events, big and small, intimate and overwhelming. From a Chinatown gangster hangout in San Francisco during the @fogfair to an intimate dinner and rager at the edition to a tiny hang at the @fasano on 5th Ave in nyc to a twilight cocktail in La and finally an in store kickback with @stoneisland in nyc. 1. JT Firstman. Half Gallery Los Angeles, June 8th. Cocktail celebration for SS24 Levity Issue. Photo by Oliver Kupper 2. Devendra Banhart and Beck. Half Gallery Los Angeles, June 8th. Cocktail celebration for SS24 Levity Issue. Photo by Oliver Kupper 3. Olivia Lopez snd Summer Bowie. Half Gallery Los Angeles, June 8th. Cocktail celebration for SS24 Levity Issue. Photo by Oliver Kupper 4. Charli XCX cover. Fasano 5th Avenue, New York. May 3. Cocktail celebration for SS24 Levity Issue during Frieze NY 5. Sandra Mujinga. Fasano 5th Avenue, New York. May 3. Cocktail celebration for SS24 Levity Issue during Frieze NY #yearinreview #lookingback #rewind #autre #beck #devendrabanhart

Sharon Stone and Mykki Blanco. A YEAR IN PARTIES. 2024 was a vibe. From brat summer ( @hansulrichobrist in conversation with @charli_xcx ) before her stratosphere launch) to ‘what the fuck’ fall (our fw citizen issue explores the precarity of democracy), we celebrated almost 1000 pages of interviews, essays, photo editorials, fashion stories and visits to almost every continent, with some epic events, big and small, intimate and overwhelming. From a Chinatown gangster hangout in San Francisco during the @fogfair to an intimate dinner and rager at @wehoedition to a tiny hang at the @fasano on 5th Ave in NYC to a twilight cocktail in LA with @halfgallery and finally an in store kickback with @stoneisland in nyc. 1. @sharonstone and @mykkiblanco . @ardorweho , Edition Hotel. February 26. Autre and @jeffreydeitchgallery Frieze Kickoff. Photo by Oliver Kupper 2. Jeffrey Deitch. Ardor Restaurant, Edition Hotel. February 26. Autre and Jeffrey Deitch Frieze Kickoff. Photo by Oliver Kupper 3. @bibbe.hansen and @kembrapfahler_ . Ardor Restaurant, Edition Hotel. February 26. Autre and Jeffrey Deitch Frieze Kickoff. Photo by Oliver Kupper 4. Local gangster. Lions Den, Chinatown San Francisco. January 21. Fog art fair late night dance party with @altmansiegel , @on_approval , and @ivalueculture 5. @iamswig and Andrew McClintock. Lions Den, Chinatown San Francisco. January 21. Fog art fair late night dance party with Altman Siegal, OnApproval, and Value Culture #yearinreview #autremagazine #parties #nightlife #losangeles #newyork

I Like America and America Likes Me. In 1974, Joseph Beuys arrived in the U.S. from Germany, was wrapped head to toe in felt, and brought to the Rene Block gallery in SoHo via ambulance. For three consecutive days, he lived with a live coyote, mimicked its movements and behaviors. When the performance was over, he returned back to the airport in the same way be arrived. On the occasion of the exhibition and offsite public reforestation project Joseph Beuys: In Defense of Nature on view now at @thebroadmuseum , we take a deep dive into the mythical life and career of Joseph Beuys. Over 20 pages, we talk to Beuys scholar Andrea Gyorody and broad curator Sarah Loyer. We also talk to @gerdludwig about his iconic photographs of the artist which were taken in his homeland of the Lower Rhine. Autre #19 FW24 The Citizen issue is SOLD OUT online but is available at @casamagazinesnyc @iconicmagazines in New York, all newsstands in Southern California, @ofrparis , @doyoureadme_berlin in Berlin, @frabs_magazines in Milan, finer bookstores across Spain — check your local newsstand Video by Caroline Tisdall #josephbeuys #art #coyote

CREATIVITY = CAPITAL. On the occasion of the exhibition and offsite public reforestation project Joseph Beuys: In Defense of Nature on view now at @thebroadmuseum , we take a deep dive into the mythical life and career of Joseph Beuys. Over 20 pages, we talk to Beuys scholar Andrea Gyorody and broad curator Sarah Loyer. We also talk to @gerdludwig about his iconic photographs of the artist which were taken in his homeland of the Lower Rhine. Autre #19 FW24 The Citizen issue is SOLD OUT online but is available at @casamagazinesnyc @iconicmagazines in New York, all newsstands in Southern California, @ofrparis , @doyoureadme_berlin in Berlin, @frabs_magazines in Milan, finer bookstores across Spain — check your local newsstand Beuys in his kitchen at the Drakeplatz in Düsseldorf. © Gerd Ludwig #josephbeuys #art #thebroadmuseujm #athome