And it was the fetish scene’s role as a “big important nurturing space” in her student days that finally enabled her to realise — and confidently state — what her practice was as a budding artist.
“It takes guts to say something’s art,” she points out. “You don’t want them to just go, ‘Well that’s just you dressing up’.”
After some impromptu appearances ‘in character’ at events like Torture Garden and Club Rub, Resistance Gallery (Garry Vanderhorne’s Bethnal Green club and art space, and HQ of Lucha Britannia) became the venue for Cynth Icorn’s first professional gig.
“I’d been going to events there for a long time and had quickly fallen in with the Resistance Gallery family. So one night when they needed somebody at short notice to perform at Lucha, Garry gave me a call and I turned up and did it.
“I just threw something together to perform to Oh Bondage Up Yours. They played the wrong music, so I just had to get on with it and it didn’t make any sense any more, hey-ho. But I got there and got the job done.”
More gigs at Resistance followed, for Lucha and vampire night Fangtasia. Often they were last-minute calls, which provided useful experience when Cynth began getting work with Cirque le Soir, the West End circus-themed nightclub where she is now a resident performer.
Friday nights at Cirque are fetish-themed, and other regular performers include several Suicide Girls and fellow fetish performer Amy Statik. But even when you’re booked in advance, says Cynth, you might not learn just what you’re booked for until the last moment.
‘I’ve performed as The Madonna giving birth on stage, and as a human sex doll squirting milk into the audience from my fake vagina made of doll limbs’
“I’ve found myself performing there as The Madonna giving birth on stage, as a human sex doll squirting milk into the audience from my fake vagina made of doll limbs, or as a go-go dancer in total enclosure like a surrealist showgirl.”
These days, Cynth Icorn performs regularly around London, and internationally. As well as Cirque le Soir, she has appeared at Torture Garden, Wasteland Amsterdam, KitKatClub Berlin, The Box, Double R Club, Duckie, The SupperClub Amsterdam and Manifest Copenhagen.
Asked to choose a favourite performance, she cites her mermaid hook suspension at Wasteland.
“I love performing for this huge venue. Hanging bleeding above a crowd of 3,000-plus people is a special buzz,” she says. “And bringing a theatrical narrative to a hook show feels very fresh and exciting to me.”
Cynth Icorn’s parallel career as a fetish model formally began with a shoot for Fetisheyes. “That was very sweet,” she recalls.
“Rubber macs, wellies, gasmasks, diving gear, inflatable diving suits, wetsuits — it was really nice. I’m not just a latex evening dress kinda girl — I have waders and raincoats as well!”
Her first overseas modelling job resulted from proposing a website link exchange with Alterpic.
“Anna Rose dropped me an email. She said,‘Actually, as well as a link exchange, fancy coming over?’ And I went ‘Ooh yes, ooh yes please!’.
“So I went over and worked with her and Uwe [her Alterpic partner]. That would have been maybe 2011 or ’12. That was really exciting for me: my first trip modelling abroad, and it was wonderful to work with them. They’re really nice people and I had a lot of fun playing with Anna.
“I was their first English model. She said, ‘Make sure you speak clearly so they can hear your lovely accent!’ As an English girl going abroad, so rarely do you get people saying you’ve got a lovely accent. So it’s very nice when people get excited about that.”
I remark that as they’d not previously met, Anna must have been pretty impressed by Cynth’s portfolio — which Ms Icorn confirms. “I think she could tell that I was genuinely into what I was doing rather than just some girl in a dress that wants to make some money.”
Cynth Icorn was also Kink Canary’s first English model. And for her work with this outfit, her shaven-headed look is a distinct advantage.
“Whenever I go over to Tenerife to shoot with Matthias, he loves putting me in transparent hoods because he loves my very short hair. I get a lot of attention because a lot of people have fetishes for shorn girls.”
But what made her decide she wanted to start running her own club nights?
The idea for her first venture, Rubber Cult, came out of a conversation with Kim Rub when Cynth was soliciting her views on a proposed exhibition at Resistance Gallery.
“Kim said, ‘Why don’t we put on a night together?’.” So they started brainstorming and came up with the name Rubber Cult, for which their friend (and important founder member) Jan Fetishclubpix just happened to own the URL.
“It was very exciting, coming up with what we would include, people to perform, getting Marnie Scarlet involved, etc,” Cynth remembers.
“And the way it’s grown over the years… I would never, ever, ever have predicted getting that European Fetish Award the first year!”
There have been other nights popping up doing full latex dresscode, or some kind of theme on that, Cynth concedes. “But we also work to curate latex talent for the whole night.
“I would never book a performer who doesn’t perform in latex. We have had people design their own outfits specifically for Rubber Cult.
“Also, there’s the art, the vacbed, all that sort of stuff. It isn’t just a dresscode, it’s the whole night. That’s important.”
Given the profile Rubber Cult has achieved, is just three events a year really enough?
“Every club works out its own pace,” is Cynth’s reply. “There are always going to be people who want more, but you have to be aware of how many people can commit to the amount of nights you’d like to run.
“You have to work towards what will keep the club at the right capacity — keep it busy. It’s better to have three fantastic nights a year than four slightly-less-fantastic nights.”
Although Rubber Cult (next event: September 26) does make money for its hosts, Cynth doesn’t regard it as primarily an entrepreneurial venture.
“As a teenager I was always running parties but I never thought I’d be making money out of it one day! Rubber Cult’s not about the money, but it’s a great part of my professional life that I take a lot of pride in.
“It’s wonderful to have created a community, a really friendly community that people really value.
“It’s one thing to throw a community-based event where you’re there to create a community. But when you’re working as a club promoter, community is something that’s formed after what you’ve created.”
‘I’ve had to explain Psycho Ward is not a dungeon with mistresses who give you a rectal exam. But it is a space for people to commit to this asylum. Literally!’
Has her new venture Psycho Ward, whose next outing is at Resistance Gallery on October 9, also been created for the fetish crowd?
“Definitely,” she says. “I may be using immersive theatre as a focal point and it may again, like Rubber Cult, have performances and exhibitions. But it’s also a medical fetish night.
“It straddles both spheres: we have play equipment, and the immersive theatre aspect of going into a ward — the psycho ward. You’re taken in by a receptionist; you sign your disclaimer and are handed over to the nurses.
“There’s this big buzz around immersive events at the moment — it’s the new buzzword in London. The immersive experiences being fostered now go further — to that one-on-one experience with another person.”
So at Psycho Ward you’ll be taken into one of the ward spaces and be given a check up, a diagnosis and a treatment plan.
“We then have several sessions of group therapy — though this doesn’t involve sitting in a circle and saying ‘Hello, I’m an alcoholic!’ We have vacbeds. We have proper medical equipment and violet wands and stuff.
“I’ve had to explain to people interested in coming that it’s not a dungeon with mistresses who give you a rectal exam! But it is a space for people to commit to this asylum. Literally!” she laughs.
Cynth Icorn performs this coming weekend at Torture Garden in London (Electrowerkz, Friday September 4) then at Cirque le Soir in Paris (Club 79, Saturday 5). For more upcoming dates, see panel below.
SEPTEMBER 4 London, Electrowerkz: Torture Garden Sea Birth Hook Suspension
SEPTEMBER 5 Paris, Club 79: Cirque le Soir
SEPTEMBER 26 London, Shillibeers: Rubber Cult
OCTOBER 9 London, Resistance Gallery: Psycho Ward
OCTOBER 10 London, Egg: Berlin Berlin
Tags: Artists, Bondage, Fetish Video, Heavy Rubber, Latex, Models, Parties, Performance Artists, Performers, Personalities
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