Set your inner santa FREE

Santa is a nice fellow, he gives us gifts which make us happy (?) Unfortunately all those little elves don't actually make all those pressies from scratch, they are fuelled by capitalism (which is destroying our planet!) . Sometimes we need to set our inner santa (consumerhappy) self free and have some time to reconsider our "gift" buying.

If you're not willing to boycott Coles/Woolworths for a whole month in December (and why the hell not?) then at least take the 28th November (BUY NOTHING DAY) off from spending. Buy Nothing. It'll feel nice (plus it's FREE).

Everyday Beauty

Cnr King St and Erskineville Rd, Newtown- flowers hang from the power lines. Thank you to those beautiful people who think of ways to pretty up our public space- I feel comforted that you exist and I am graced with your works each day.

Erko Kidz call for Change

A couple of times a week for the past year, on my way to Punk Monk headquarters in Alexandria, I pass this vacant block of land on Erskineville Rd. For the most part (and apparently for the last 40 years) it has been wasted space fenced off with a gate sporting a big lock.

For a while a hand drawn sign read "Another development?" with a box ticked NO and underneath "Community Garden?" with a box ticked YES. When this was torn down I panicked assuming that the council land was to be re-zoned, sold and would become another ugly block of flats like the ones that loom behind it.

A few weeks ago I almost wet my pants as I set my eyes upon what appeared to be the beginnings of a community garden. A compost bin, a no dig garden (with tomatoes), a small passion fruit plant to climb up the fence and beautiful colour artworks- it seems that "Erko kidz heart gardens" and "want change". This couldn't make me happier. All the times I have walked past, yearning for a community garden and getting worked up about it ,I've not done a thing about it. The Erskineville youth are now making their mark, with another working body behind them (The Watershed or Redwatch are my guesses).

With the possibility of unused space, right near the proposed garden being turned into a supermarket, its exciting to think that some kids these days actually care about the fact that real food comes from the ground, not Coles. Redwatch have had this in mind as they have struggled for some time now trying to allow the council land to be opened up for community use. Council will not budge- WHY?

Read more here.

With 13 community gardens across Sydney including my favourite at Love Grub, just around the corner from Punk Monk headquarters in Alexandria, can we please have one more?

Watch this space, ideas about how we may get involved are brewing....

AUTISTIC BOY GRANTS WISHES

Last night, Alex and I agreed to make a vignette/mini- film entitled AUTISTIC BOY GRANTS WISHES. We considered making FOOD STARTS EATING PEOPLE or ANCIENT ALIEN PYRAMID SCHEME but those were already taken. GOVERNMENT IS AUTISTIC BOY, HOUSE ACTUALLY ALIEN ZOO and DARK LORD REASONABLE all looked intrigueing plots also. But the endless possibilities for a snippet entitled AUTISTIC BOY GRANTS WISHES makes us feel giddy.

What am I on about?

It will all start to make sense soon ( I hope):

"So this is a collective call-to-arms then. Except we’re not making a film. Or not making a single film.

What I’d like to make is a multi-narrative, parallelised and cross-referenced matrix of vignettes that will be produced by a number of individuals or by individual teams and then collated into a final interactive document/artefact/filmscape(?).

Which is really an overly complex way of saying that I’d like to make this:"

Punk Monk, Dermot is experimenting with the idea of "communal" filmmaking via 42 vignettes which work alone but also splice together to form a larger puzzle. These "42 Essential 3rd Act Twists" (Dresden Codak) play on tradition western narrative structures (with bizarre newspaper story- like headlines) w ith twisted, silly, bleak, confusing, hilarious, wistful and perhaps disturbing undertones. Dermot wants everyone and anyone to have a go at bringing one alive.

In the spirit of Kino, where many have already taken up the collective challenge, the idea is to create and share, rather than select based on a rigid set of standards such as skill set. This creates a space where a whole range of thematically and aesthetically different films from a wide range of professional, even award winning filmmakers to first timers, dabblers and "amateur" filmmakers who all share some level of passion for the visual form.

I give kudos to Dermot, who doesn't know where the project will end up but is all embracing and prepared for anything to come out of it.

Check out the rest of the details and get involved- seriously, you actually can.

Hypnosis and Disturbance, Phenomenology and Wheatgrass

It's been all about moss for a while now, however now a new lush green flora has unexpectedly come into my life. It's about to become all about Wheatgrass.

One week ago, one Alex and I wondered past At The Vanishing Point gallery (ATVP) and I recalled a facebook invite I'd gotten triggering the words interactive, ecological, tangible, DIY (words which are usually enough to attract us Punk Monks anyway) but also Wheatgrass!

Of course we were then intrigued. We wandered in to what we discovered to be the opening + artist talks. We were ushered out the back and asked if we'd like a vodka and Wheatgrass, Brendan (Director of ATVP and artist of The Phenomenology Machine 1.0) was somewhat surprised by our enthusiastic acceptance. We weren't sure what was going to happen, but boy was that a full on shot of green alcohol.

The first segment of the exhibition featured the hypnotic Spring and Asura .02 (Chris Bowman and Dr. Alastair Weakley), which merges

video art of natural phenomena and moving poetry text in two juxtaposed but interacting panels. Set up on the floor, like peering into a pond, moving visual haikus of light and shadow in moving leaves, cherry blossoms and water droplets accompanied by Kenji Miyazawa's poetry text which created both separation between the two.

Disturbance and interaction were the main points of discussion. The ways in which the artwork draws us in (accompanied by a zen soundscape lulling you into meditation with the artwork) and then how both elements of the work and the space creates disturbance for the viewer- this particular space encompassing light and shadow movement and noise disturbance brought in from the street. Within the work shifts in the text which move around the panel, merge with one another and turn upon themselves causing a similar disturbance in the minds eye as we attempt to follow them and draw connections with the visuals alongside it. The artist talk itself exhibited the point well, as I stared into the work and became immersed, attempting to interact with it, I was brought from my trance by snippets of spoken words of interest before the repeated gong at the beginning of the soundtrack drew me back into the work.

In the spirit of the phrase "And now for something completely different", we followed Brendan Penzer into the tiny room above the stairs towards the curious Phenomenology Machine 1.0. Barefooted, standing upon the smooth blanket of Wheatgrass bordering the room, he explained his prototype for a bigger, exciting project to be launched next year. With the mossy, fresh smell of Wheatgrass in the air, I felt a little high cramped into this room as bursts of mist were left floating in the air and golden light streamed from the phone booth like, reflective platform. It is here where you are beckoned into the dark space towards solar energised light and button activated mist. Here you are enveloped in mist and then banished into darkness once more. The ecological installation reminds us that we are in positions of action in relation to our surrounding environment.

Different interpretations and relations to the space became evident in the talks as Brendan simultaneously critiqued his own work. Some related to the space with confusion and fear from the darkness and the "unknown" used as a luring force- I personally believe confusion is a very important aspect of discovering a work. This work in particular was about relating to an environment- confusion is necessary because to overcome it you must take an action, thus activating the artwork. In relation to our natural living environment, more people should be lured by the sometimes frightening and confusing aspects of what is happening around us, and prompted to do something about it.

Penzer is now developing a mobile ecological art gallery which will begin in ATVP's courtyard and then begin its movement into other spaces. In the spirit of DIY renewable energy and viewer interactivity, this could be one of the most intriguing innovations to come out of Sydney in 2010.

Finally, to top of a beautiful spontaneous Saturday afternoon, we were given a feed- a vegetable BBQ, something well craved during our recently enforced slum conditions (we lost gas to our house last week) and however much we felt like outsiders at a family BBQ, the faces here were both friendly and embracing.

Now to start growing my own Wheatgrass!(tasty healthy, fresh wheatgrass..mmm)

Photos generously donated by ATVP co-director Alex Wisser.[except the first image which I pawned from Wikipedia for its lusciousness]

Kino Feels Like Home Again #Kino31

What went down at Kino #31?, these are just the photos.

Have you figured out what Kino is all about yet?

Riverbeats beats Halloween

All Hallows' Eve and the contemplation of which costume party or musical monster mash gig to attend, to dress up or to reject the tradition, to spend lots of money or take it easy on the drinks, and then to end up abandoning all fronts and heading off towards neither, nor.

Who knew that the best thing happening in Sydney on a Saturday, more so Halloween Saturday, would be happening in Parramatta, at a family oriented cultural festival celebrating water, music, sound and light?

Over the river, immediate awe strikes as giant spheres and light towers of moving light and projected images reflect into the water and dominate in a kaleidoscopic wonderland. Masses of comparatively tiny people mill around the area, their shadows multiplying against the usually ugly and oppressive apartment blocks towering borders on either side of the channel, now with swirling rainbow skins in constant transition.

Trees illuminate as if the etchings of fairy tales and magic spills out of each person in green, blue, yellow and red hues as they collectively gaze wonder- filled into giant balls of light that look about to take off like hot air balloons into the glittery night sky where beams of light waver and intersect rhythmically.

Young and old feast their ears upon a fusion of different cultural beats from the far away stage, blown up and projected with shadow puppet accompaniment and poetry dedications and overall sensory bliss.
Not long after our arrival onto the grass, mythical monster creatures enter the crowd with stakes of fire as another, string operated and with a dragon paddles upstream in a fire lit wooden boat. Decoder Ring enter the stage for an ambient instrumental set of dreamy but epic soundscapes putting us in just the place we wanted to be in whilst peering into the hypnotic stimulus I can only assume they must have brought with them- dividing cells, haunting sea life, fluttering eyelids and beautiful passing landscapes.


The musical grand finale features a brew of prior opposing forces starting with the vibrations of one didgeridoo spilling into every empty pocket of the space, then joined by all earlier performers to combine streams of jazz melodies with energetic African beats, flamenco jives and psychedelic electronic undertones for one massive multicultural jam sesh .

The awe is then brought to climax in a spectacular fireworks display from atop a neighbouring building into the clearing directly above us, showering us in speckled bursts of ear splitting glee!


All this and we still managed to be home before midnight ready to pass out from the inebriating effect of tasty tasty stimulus. Riverbeats: take the ride next year.

First two and last picture courtesy of Alexander (a much worthier photography than I- check out his blog, he may delight you with some moving riverbeat images sometime soon!)