BOTH MARILYN MANSON AND GOTTFRIED HELNWEIN EXHIBITED THEIR ARTWORK AS PART OF "THE GOLDEN AGE OF GROTESQUE", MANSON FIRST EXHIBITED HIS WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS BEFORE THE RELEASE OF THE ALBUM UNDER THE SAME TITLE. THEN AFTER THE CREATION OF THE ALBUM ARTWORK IN COLLABORATION WITH HELNWEIN, THEY TOOK SMALL ART SHOWS TO EUROPE. THESE SMALL CABARET GROTESK BURLESK SHOWS WERE MORE INTIMATE THAN THE WORLD TOUR AND FEATURED BOTH ARTWORK FROM MARILYN MANSON AND ARTWORK FROM HELNWEIN. MARILYN MANSON GAVE INTERVIEWS AT THESE SHOWS, ACCOMPANIED BY CONJOINED TWINS AS THEY APPEAR IN HIS VIDEOS, CHILDREN WRAPPED IN BANDAGES WITH MOUSE EARS. ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCES OF HITS AND NEW SONGS WERE PERFORMED BY MANSON ON SMALL THEATER STAGES, ACCOMPANIED BY JUST THE CONJOINED TWINS PLAYING THE PIANO

MARILYN MANSON HAS BEEN SURROUNDED WITH CONTROVERSY HIS ENTIRE CAREER AND HIS ART AND LIVE SHOWS BANNED, PICKETED AND CANCELLED... THIS ELEMENT OF THE GOLDEN AGE GROTESQUE LIVES AND BREATHS ELEMENTS WHICH INSPIRED IT, ARTISTS LABELLED AS "DEGENERATE ART" AND THE NAZI WHO BANNED AND DESTROYED IT. ARTWORK BOTH MANSON AND HELNWEIN CREATED WAS ALSO BANNED BY THE RECORD LABEL AND CENSORED, THESE SMALL CABARET SHOWS AND ART EXHIBITIONS GO BACK TO THE ERA IT IS INSPIRED BY WHERE ARTISTS WORK WERE SIEZED AND DESTROYED. BOTH MANSON AND HELNWEIN WERE ABLE TO SHOW MORE OF THEIR ARTWORK WITHIN THESE ART EXHIBITIONS, AWAY FROM RECORD LABEL CENSORSHIP.

"High above Marlene Dietrich Blvd. in the city of Berlin, the sun smoldered below the concrete gutter sky like a cigarette burn in a stained bedsheet. We set forth to the Dome of Berlin at dusk and I felt like I was in my own painting, "The Death of Art." Helnwein and I created a living installation with two disabled nude women as families stopped their picnics to stare. Of course we documented this for future viewing. But it didn't begin there... "Determined, I headed for the birthplace of Expressionism, humming "The Alabama Song," by Kurt Weill. It was time for The Grotesk Burlesk and dozens of mice scurried from the Kinderfeld. Their political organs had to be removed and we set them in formation, creating a metaphorical "question mark." Marilyn Manson