A rafting tribute

Tuesday 19 October 2010, 2:16 PM
By The Team | Posted in Places

When Theodore Gericault painted his famous Raft of the Medusa back in 1818, he had to do a lot of leg work to find ways to recreate the anguish, horror and despair of this nautical disaster and national disgrace. (When French ship The Medusa sank, 149 people aboard a makeshift raft endured two weeks of storms, starvation, insanity and cannibalism. Only 10 survived.)

Today we don’t need – as Gericault did – to visit hospitals or morgues to see what suffering and death look like. If we want to know, we can find images of pain with the click of a remote or a mouse. And then, if we don’t like what we’re seeing, we can click again and try and move on.

Bill Viola’s video and sound installation, The Raft, forces you to look, really look, at pain, struggle and despair.

In real-time, the events of The Raft would be over in moments. Viola’s use of extreme slow-motion forces you to understand that disasters endure long past the moment when we, the observers, choose to look away.

In The Raft, ordinary people are doing an ordinary thing – waiting in a line – when chaos is thrown upon them. A sudden onslaught of water batters the group, some resisting, some succumbing to the deluge.

We watch, in elegant and relentless detail, the struggle of individual people against a random but overwhelming force. The work evokes thoughts of international disasters: tsunamis, floods, fires and wars. But it also evokes thoughts of more individual disasters – illness, accidents and loss – and how we each, ultimately, endure these alone.

In the aftermath of the deluge, we’re faced with a group of battered and despairing people, some howling in pain and confusion, some slumped in misery, others already trying to make sense of what has just happened to them.

Artist Bill Viola describes the work as ‘an image of destruction and survival’ – but to me it’s no ‘feel-good movie of the decade’. Instead, it  is honest, brave and off-puttingly beautiful.  Much like the original painting that inspired it.

Bill Viola’s The Raft screens at ACMI until Sunday 20 February 2011. It opened in Melbourne as part of the Melbourne Festival.

Bill Viola
The Raft, May 2004
Video/sound installation

Room dimensions: 30′ x 23′ x 14′ (9 x 7 x 4 meters)
Color high-definition video projection on wall (396.2 x 223 cm) in darkened space; surround sound system
Performers: Sheryl Arenson, Robin Bonaccorsi, Rocky Capella, Cathy Chang, Liisa Cohen, Tad Coughenour, Tom Ficke, James Ford, Michael Irby, Simon Karimian, John Kim, Tanya Little, Mike Martinez, Petro Martirosian, Jeff Mosley, Gladys Peters, Maria Victoria, Kaye Wade, Kim Weild, Ellis Williams
Photo: Kira Perov

DJ Dexter: taking the movies for a spin

Wednesday 22 September 2010, 10:32 AM
By The Team | Posted in Events

When La Haine (The Hate) first screened in Melbourne it had jaws dropping all over the city. Everyone was talking about this amazing film, shot in black and white and telling it like it is for youths in many cultures and countries around the world.

Whether experienced as a window into a new world view, or as a matter-of-fact account of a tough reality, La Haine has some big things to say about this world of ours.

Someone who found plenty to love in La Haine is DJ Dexter. Cinemix, part of Melbourne Music, will see DJ Dexter remix the score to La Haine – live in the cinema. Sounds interesting? We thought so too, hence our questions below.

How many times have you now watched La Haine? Has your experience of the movie changed with each viewing?

I’ve watched it many times throughout my high school days and a few times during the past few years. It’s become a Melbourne cult classic, I think because the people of our city, specially in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, instantly connected with La Haine’s 24-hour snapshot of life that’s not dissimilar to ours.

Having DJ’d and travelled throughout France, I’ve felt the grit and grind of the outer suburbs depicted in La Haine. It’s given me a closer connection with the film.

What can your audience expect on the night? Are your song choices radically different to the originals?

I have chosen songs that I would play if I lived in the high rise buildings. I was born in Footscray and raised in the St Albans area and I definitely identify with the three main characters because I grew up with similar people.

The power of the film and its story speaks for itself so I chose music that evokes the emotion of the visuals.

We read somewhere that you learned the piano as a child and hated it. But watching you work the decks, it’s like you are playing an instrument. Is that how it feels for you?

I never thought of it that way…not really. DJ’ing, beatjuggling and scratching is more like drumming and drumming notations and accents, especially turntablism where it’s intricate rhythms and patterns.

Many Melburnians have worn out their sneakers courtesy of one of your DJ’ing sets, either solo or with The Avalanches. How will we all cope sitting still in a cinema while you crank out the tunes?

Stuff your faces with popcorn! And piff some my way if you approve of the track selection!

You’ve lived in Melbourne for many years – what keeps you here?

I was born and raised here so my life is here. Although in recent years, Tokyo, NYC and Barcelona are looking very appealing…

When you return from overseas, which city spot do you make a beeline for?

My Ma’s fish and bok choy soup and rice.

Cinemix is part of Melbourne Music. One performance only, Thursday 30 September, 8pm. At ACMI Cinemas, Federation Square.

Bookings highly recommended.

Hubble 3D: twinkle, twinkle massive star

Tuesday 24 August 2010, 4:57 PM
By The Team | Posted in Events

Hubble 3D gives you a glimpse into the unknowable, taking you billions of light years into space – through the lense of the largest space telescope known to humankind.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s measured tones guide us through the Hubble’s journey into space: from its creation (10,000 people spent more than 10 years designing and building the Hubble) to its bumpy start in 1990 (a faulty optical system was the culprit).

Three years, and a pair of giant contact lenses later, the Hubble was finally operational – bringing crystal-clear vision of an intangible world.

Hubble 3D takes us into the opalescent-like nebula of Orion’s Belt, a nursery for stars and planets with their own infant solar systems. It’s a world where the sun rises and sets every 90 minutes. The film’s 3D effect comes into its own here, as you are immersed in enormous canyons of gaseous clouds and hundreds of millions of stars seem to spring out of the screen, almost within hands’ reach.

As we swing back to Planet Earth, we join a group of seven astronauts as they prepare for a challenging mission to service the Hubble – kinda like changing spark plugs but with oven mitts in zero gravity.

The rest of the film documents the laborious rehearsals, checking and reviewing that dominates mere mortals’ adventures into space. The final, incredible blast-off into space is a 3D wonder.

Space junkies will love this film’s insights into how NASA’s operations, but those like me, who prefer to dream without being grounded by reality, may yearn for more of those glorious, 3D fly-through images.

Would-be astronauts can view Hubble 3D at IMAX Carlton until 12 October. Tickets are $17.50 adult, $14 concession, $12.50 child, $50 family (two adults and two children).