I recently returned from Australia. I went with visions of adventure, prepared for cultural awakening and excitement. I returned slightly disappointed by the Australian mode of operation and the identity crisis that much of urban Australia seems to be facing. However, the Australian art community was far from a let down, and I've found it continues to infiltrate my world two months later and a half a globe away.
While in "Oz" I picked up several art publications one of which is the comprehensive Artlink. I was immediately drawn to the magazine and have carried it with me most days, pulling it out whenever I find a spare second in my day to concentrate on it's well written articles. But it wasn't until recently that I found new pertinence for it in my life...
"The Underground" is the focus for this quarters publication, and this theme compliments many of the ideas and projects that we are exploring in Experimental Media. Experimenting with various mediums, pushing artistic boundaries, and art as a radical means of cultural excavation are present themes, and lend to an understanding of the larger community in which experimental media exists.
As we were given our first class assignment, the creation of a zine, I flipped to an article I had recently read in my underground Artlink, "Discovery and adventure in the zine world". Author and zine-artist Vanessa Berry poignantly describes the value of these unique creations within our techno-driven society. But what struck me was the way in which she described the below ground world in which zines exist. The Underground is likened to Alice's adventures in Wonderland,
"Discovering the rabbithole is only a small part of the story. What follows is Alice's adventure, and it is here the strange, mixed-up world she has entered is revealed. It's power comes from its comparison with the everyday... She is found in a place that where things are not as they seem, yet is also free from the constraints of conventional logic."
Her description of entering Wonderland and the unique perimeters and philosophy embedded in the space deeply parallels my thoughts on penetrating and working in the realm of experimental media. Furthermore, the alternate reality that can be constructed in the Underground is similar to my perception of what is possible in the Experimental, "another reality that exists alongside the expected, everyday one... places where conventional time, laws and linkage are subverted." To my mind this is what experimental media strives to work with and create.
It isn't everyday that you're invited down the rabbithole, ... I'm excited to discover the world that will be constructed from turning the key.
No comments:
Post a Comment