KOREA - CANBERRA - CAIRNS - 2 week project models

With continual funding cuts for the independent arts sector in Australia we are forced to work faster and harder.  Of course it is possible to develop projects in seriously short periods of time but each work only exposes the tip of the iceberg, ending up with an abbreviated catalogue of culture outside of pop madness - artists are only trying to survive.
In dreamy Seoul I took three rolls of double exposures on Cinestill 800T outside of where we rehearsed Same Same But Different with Noreum Machi http://www.noreummachi.com/english/index.html and Synergy Percussion in the Hongdae area.  Such a serene blending of nature and microcosmic street life, teenage kitch and homogenous sophistication.  We performed elements of last year's Earth Cry, slightly modified and heightened for a Seoul audience at the National Theatre of Korea to a participatory full house of families, shaman drumming masters and other fans.  Media coverage seamlessly woven into the process, the transparency of this event was unique.
Then Canberra at Gorman House with Zsuzsi Soboslay performing in a three screen surround setup. Zsuzsi developed and modified from her play on refugee crisis and migration to an improvised work in collaboration with other Canberra artists. It was interesting to see how the Canberra scene works, surrounded by federally endorsed arts commissions it seems the reality for most Canberra performance is hand to mouth, passionate artists canoeing in a tiny creek.

Zsuzsi Soboslay video shoot,
Blackmountain Peninsula

In Cairns it was back into the tropical immersion, a saturated jungle of mindfulness. Philip Channells, James Brown and I developed a small scale touring model for semi-improvised media performance at the Centre of Contemporary Arts.  Places have such a big influence on outcomes - we filmed in waterfalls, rivers and oceans, did a brief collaboration with three local artists and showed the work In Flight Trilogy the autobiographical experiment of Philip Channels' artistic journey.  I hadn't been here since installing Artifact Cartoons in 2013 and the artistic community here is still small, diverse and passionate, with a twist of irreverent craziness (!)

Philip Channells In Flight Trilogy video still