Art practices/Multiple-use name/Chus Martinez

Manifestos of Chus Martinez:

Chus Martinez is a multiple-use name, an “open pop star” informally adopted and shared by hundreds of artists and activists all over Europe and the Americas since 1982. The pseudonym first appeared in Valencia, Spain, in mid-1982, when a number of cultural activists began using it to stage a series of urban and media pranks and to experiment with new forms of authorship and identity. From Valencia the multiple-use name spread to other European cities, such as Rome and London, as well as countries such as Germany and Slovenia. Sporadic appearances of Chus Martinez have been also noted in Canada, the United States, and Brazil.

Also

THE CHUS MARTINEZ PROJECT Chus Martínez is a relatively obscure Spanish guitarist who in the late-sixties and early-seventies played cheesy easy listening tunes with this band -- often covers of well known hits. Given Martinez's failure to conquer the world musical scene he can be interpreted as a symbol of heroic failure, and his name has been specially selected for a new multiple identity project in the tradition of Monty Cantsin, Karen Eliot and Luther Blissett. The Chus Martínez moniker has the advantage of being one that might belong to either a male of a female since Chus as a first name does not appear to be gender specific. In this way it is superior to any previous multiple identity we are aware of. Chus Martínez is a transsexual collective phantom. Anyone can be Chus Martinez - just start using the name!