Little Ashes

Little Ashes for me was an interesting, enjoyable and rather spontaneous experience, having picked up a pamphlet recently for the Outtakes Film Festival I later discovered that it was a "reel queer film festival" which made for an interesting night. When I began these blogs I was determined to look at and review things that I would not normally visit so as far as I was concerned this was a good opportunity, the next step was convincing a friend to come with me and I cleverly enlisted my sister with the promise of going and seeing a Robert Pattinson Movie, "Little Ashes."



I must say that a lot of the patronage did come from the LGBT community as was to be expected when the film was part of this festival and it was quite a new experience to be in the minority on this occasion. As for the movie I thought it was fantastic, it was directed by Paul Morrison and starred the aforementioned Robert Pattinson as artist Salvadolr Dalí and Javier Beltrán as poet Federico García Lorca. It wasn't my usual movie but turned out to be one of my favorites from what I have viewed this year and I think although it definitely wouldn't be for everyone if you go in with an open mind it is quite enjoyably different.

A story of the lives of famous Spaniards Dali and Lorca, the film in initially set in 1920's Madrid at the art school the two attend. The two young men fall in love at a time that homosexuality is unacceptable and although they obviously share a great love for on another they find themselves unable to be together physically, immediately followed by Dali leaving for Paris. Both go on to become great and famous men of their time with their work challenging the perceptions of their time. You find yourself spending the whole movie frustrated that the two men will never be together and really engaging with Lorca, a sweet but strong character who campaigns for the right to love who you want to and in the end ends up being a casualty of the Spanish Revolution. Dali himself makes the viewers feel pity, he swings back and forth from being painfully shy to an eccentric braggart all along seeming desperately unfulfilled. The film makes sure to show plenty of the famous works from both men, the poetry of Lorca is recited in both Spanish and English and is quite beautiful, comparatively the work of the talented Dali is truly odd and rather surreal, he found a lot of luck as a new age artist as he was producing works that were a far cry from the traditional art taught at the time.

This film further encouraged me to look up of some of Dali's work, a lot of the work, like the man who painted it is quite off but put in the context of the time I would suppose it was quite revolutionary. I think the eccentricity of the man as he is portrayed really shows through in his work, he uses a lot of colour and images that appear somewhat distorted from reality.

All in all I thought it was a really beautiful film, there have been a lot of mixed reviews but I think it was deep, crazy and really quite powerful. It managed to tackle themes of love, freedom, acceptance, politics and art all in one film. I think watching films like this that are based on history really makes you appreciate the freedom that we are afforded today and that we don't have to go to such great lengths to hide or exert yourself.

Although there is a lot of contention about the facts in this movie I think it would be quite inspiring if it were true that such famous and celebrated men were gay, I think love in any shape or form deserves the right to be celebrated and I think the movie did an excellent job in showing just how sad it is that this young romance never got the opportunity to become something more.

MIC Toi Rerehiko

Just in the wake of our interactive installation ( Serious Fun) project we went to see two interactive works of art displayed at MIC Toi Rerehiko on nearby K-Road. The works were 'Other than Human' by The Visualisation Unit and 'Open Limit' by Marcia Lyons. We were also lucky enough to have one of 'Other than Human's' creators to talk us through various aspects of the project and to answer most of our questions.

My initial reaction to Other than Human was it was beautiful and quite obviously responsive to one's movement within the space, it also impressed me that it seemed to respond to a large number of people with the same ease as it responded to one. It was constantly moving and has an variable audio component that really emphasized the change in movement the work was sensing. Another thing that I really liked was the slight variation on a conventional screen, there were we discovered three layers of hanging net that the installation was projected onto, this gave a much more fluid appearance to the piece and really lifted it up from a 2d projection.

The basic design of the pieces' interaction was a particle system that seemed to gather where presence is detected, there were a large number of square particles in yellow, pink and blue that were in constant motion and only present on the screen when there was a participant for them to track, there was also the possibility of random events and to throw the particles from the screen as well as audio that identified participation.

To visit the Visualisation Unit's website and see a demonstration click here

By speaking to Sebastian Hamilton we found that the visualisation was created using the Program Processing which we did a short course on recently and it was really good to see that it could be used so effectively on such a large and professional project. They also used infrared sensors to track the movement of a participant and their distance from the sensors.

'Other than Human's ' meaning to me was unclear but I certainly thought it was engaging and it gave me joy to watch others playing with the installation or trying so hard to work it out. I think the point of installation is that there is no right or wrong with it, it will give something different to each participant and there is little risk of someone feeling alienated or confused by the piece as is common with traditional still art, in other words I find this extremely accessible compared to other art forms.The installation was quite beautiful and very engaging as it was so easy to see that the project was responding to you. I like installation art a lot as it forces the viewer to become an active participant in the work and encourages them to engage on some level, whether they are simply playing and enjoying or standing back watching and trying to uncover the meaning intended by the artist.


The installation 'Open Limit' offered by the entrance, coats emblasoned on the back with a symbol that would have been recognisable to the multiple webcams in the room, when the symbol was recognised the swirling blues and quiet ambient noise in the gallery would change to areas of movement and areas of orange colour as well as the noise escalating. Unfortunately however it was very hard to make the installation work which risked being quite baffling for viewers as they might think that there is something happening that only they are missing out on and discourage them from trying to engage with this and other works.



Retrieving the above video link however I found that Lyons is infact broadcasting from the exhibit via the webcams in the room, this adds another level of accessibility to the art, although you may not be able to visit and experience first hand you can still see how the installation works and enjoy online. Also having seen the installation working well, it is a lot more enjoyable.

The installation reacts rather violently when a participant is recognise, it seems to zap the viewer; showing the the background swirling around like a storm and the the amount of movement and noise escalating drastically. The presence of the contrasting orange is a nice touch as it appears where the participant is perceived which shows the participant that they are the cause for the changes in the piece and makes them feel much more involved and important, with their role as the central decision maker in the artwork. This to me is the greatest success, getting non-art people engaged and enjoying art.

Avenue Q

Avenue Q is a Broadway musical that uses a mix of puppets, humans, music and a seriously politically incorrect script to tackle a bunch of societies issues. The plot follows Princeton a recent college graduate who is ready to take on the world, but instead finds himself living on Avenue Q (the only one he can afford) and searching for his purpose. There isn't an overly complex storyline but instead seems to be more about coping with today's world. Avenue Q is all about laughing about the things that people tend to get offended about in real life. The cast is a bunch of muppet style puppets (as shown above) operated on stage with the puppeteers still in sight and boy can those puppeteers sing.

Characters include an uptight and obviously gay investment banker Rod, a grown up Gary Coleman, a cute kindergarten teacher Kate Monster, a reclusive porn addict Trekkie Monster and the infamous Lucy the Slut, amongst others.

The big appeal of Avenue Q is that they can get away with saying pretty much whatever they want to because they are doing it through puppets, this works out to be quite an effective medium because when they get down to it the cast of Avenue Q do really have some valid statements about society as it stands modern day. The music in the show is where most of the statements are made, songs such as "It sucks to be me", "Everyone's a little bit racist" and everyone's favourite "The internet is for porn" are quite funny but also bring up things that people tend to get sensitive about when they are talked about in real life and make the subjects discussable which is only achievable because by using puppets in the show it removes it from 'real life.'

I thought Avenue Q was a lot of fun, it had so many memorable an unconventional characters. I especially liked the bad idea bears who showed up to propose things such as binge drinking or suicide; they were like instead of having an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, having a devil either side whispering bad ideas to you constantly. I think that was the main message in Avenue Q, that things about life suck; there is misfortune and things that offend but if you are sharing your life with the right people then none of that matters. I found the show a little more cutesy than I was expecting but it was definitely an enjoyable night out with a whole heap of catchy songs (I literally went home humming).

Brick Bay Sculpture Trail - Works in the CBD

Looking at art really does extend the way you see the world. Since visiting the Brick Bay Sculpture Trail I have noticed works by the same artists in the CBD that I hadn't noticed before. I have walked past works by Greer Twiss, Lucy Bucknail and Mary-Loiuse Browne, artists I had not been aware of before the showcase and recognised their work.
For someone who hasn't had too much to do with art this is progress for me and an encouragement to keep looking and learning.