Still from The Boy Who Loved Rain.

by Simon Sellars

Originally published in RealTime issue #81 Oct-Nov 2007.

RealTime issue #81 Oct-Nov 2007 pg. 19

I was recently asked about my involvement in the Liquid Architecture festival, so I thought I’d explain it here. Liquid Architecture originated in 2000 at RMIT University when I was working at RMIT’s Union Arts as their special events officer. My brief was to devise arts events that would showcase the talents of RMIT students. I knew of the ((tRansMIT)) student sound collective, led by Melbourne sound artist Nat Bates, so I decided to set up a festival promoting ((tRansMIT)) alongside special guests Ollie Olsen and Philip Brophy.

But I’m in not responsible for Liquid Architecture as it stands today — that’s the result of the hard work of Nat, who co-produced the first year with me. Nat, as Artistic Director (along with his various colleagues including Bruce Mowson and Sue Jones) grew the festival to the point where it attracts top-line international guests, while still holding true to the promotion of local talent. I’m amazed that he’s managed to transform our original student-driven initiative into a state-funded, national festival.

My contribution to Liquid Architecture can be summed up like this: I suggested it to the RMIT Union Arts bosses; I named it (see below); I invited Nat to co-produce it; I suggested the half lecture/half performance model; and I was only around for that first year, although Nat invited me back on a very part-time basis in 2004 and 2005 to redesign their web site and catalogue. I in turn rehired LA’s original graphic artist Daniel New, and I like to think that Daniel and myself greatly improved the festival’s visual image during those two years. (It’s gratifying to note that today the festival retains the ice-blue colour scheme and the VAG font-logo that Daniel and I devised in 2000).

>> LA6 poster: the iceberg, Daniel’s idea, is a very literal (and very clever) interpretation of the “liquid architecture” theme

Why “liquid architecture”? I vaguely knew of the term from the work of Marcus Novak, who used it to define “a fluid, imaginary landscape that only exists in the digital domain”, although when I borrowed the term, I was thinking more of Kodwo Eshun and his article Liquid Dystopia, about Drexciya. Eshun wrote, “Drexciya fictionalize frequencies into sound pictures of unreal environments — what Kraftwerk termed tone films — not filled with cars, bikes or trains but rather UAOs, soundcrafts”.

For me, the “architecture” part seemed appropriate in that the sound artists we were promoting were designing sonic environments, sonic structures (not “only in the digital domain”, by the way)…spliced with Eshun, and you get “liquid architecture”.

– Simon Sellars, 2007
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..:: APPENDIX I
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Here’s the text of the original program for Liquid Architecture 1:

LIQUID ARCHITECTURE

7pm, Sunday April 16, 2000
Part One: Liquid Dystopia

Undead & machine-translated performances by the ((tRansMIT)) sound collective. With special guest PHILIP BROPHY; short films between performances; and VJs playing video tag-team throughout.

Evolutions and mutations…future directions in experimental electronica…

6pm, Monday April 17, 2000
Part Two: Liquid Crystal

“A History of Electronic Music”, presented by OLLIE OLSEN – a mapping of early experiments through to the warped extremes of the 21st century. Followed by a screening of the acclaimed documentary Theremin. With ((tRansMIT)) presentations by Abi Crompton and Nat Bates, inviting you into the neon-lit recesses of their Sonic Laboratories.

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..:: APPENDIX I
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Articles I’ve written about the festival:
>> Liquid Architecture 5: Polytechnic Sound Art
>> Liquid Architecture 4: Slaves to A System of Weird Harmony
>> Lawrence English: Watching While You Sleep
>> 360 Degrees: Women In Sound
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Here are some advance details.

I’ve worked as an editor for educational institutions including RMIT Marketing and Communications and La Trobe University, for community organisations including Greenpeace Australia and Ozanam Community Centre, and for various independent arts organisations including Alcaston gallery.

My main client over the last couple of years has been Lonely Planet Publications. Some of the LP guidebook titles I’ve worked on as an editor include Iceland, Russia & Belarus, London, Korea, Montreal & Quebec City, Portugal, Florida, Tasmania, Britain, Austria, Guatemala, Belize & Yucatan, New Zealand and Piedmont.

I am available for freelance editing work. Please contact me.

+ BALLARDIAN
Website recording the career and influence of J.G. Ballard. I’m the publisher and editor. I’ve commissioned and conducted interviews with J.G. Ballard himself as well as Bruce Sterling, Iain Sinclair, John Foxx, Simon Reynolds and Michael Moorcock among others. I’ve also published articles by numerous writers, academics and artists.

+ SUBTERRAIN
Publishing project documenting the experiences of people using the services at Ozanam Community Centre in North Melbourne. I was the project manager and editor. I commissioned writing — ‘life stories’ — from the people using the Centre via writing workshops: poetry, fiction, artwork, life histories and perspectives. I also conducted around 30 interviews with other clients, writing up the stories and editing them in consultation with the interviewees. I was involved in every aspect of the magazine’s conception: copy editing, commissioning, art direction, website design, publicity.

+ SLEEPY BRAIN
Online cultural mag (and later, personal blog). In the site’s early days, before it became a blog, I commissioned articles from various Melbourne writers. The project has now been discontinued and is archived here.

+ LIQUID ARCHITECTURE
Melbourne-based festival of sound art. I founded the festival during my tenure as Special Events Coordinator at RMIT Union Arts. Here’s a note on my involvement.

+ Website design (various clients).
Details to be posted.

Please access my writing archive via the following category links.

EXPANDED CATEGORIES

by Simon Sellars

Published in RealTime issue #80 Aug-Sept 2007.

AT THE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL’S CAREERS IN ANIMATION FORUM, AN AUDIENCE MEMBER WANTED TO KNOW WHAT INSTITUTIONS LOOK FOR IN THEIR ENTRANCE INTERVIEWS. ROBERT STEPHENSON (VCA) SAID THAT AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE BODY’S MOVEMENT AND MECHANICS IS USEFUL. HE SUGGESTED WOULD-BE ANIMATORS ENROL IN LIFE-DRAWING CLASSES AND BRING A STORYBOARD TO THEIR INTERVIEW, EVEN IF THE APPLICANT HAS NEVER MADE A FILM, AS THIS MAY SUGGEST AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO TELL A STORY. ANOTHER TIP: “DON’T COPY DRAWINGS OUT OF A ‘HOW TO ANIMATE’ BOOK.”

The panel also included animators David Blumenstein (Naked Fella) and Jim Kalogiratos (Tantalus) alongside educators Peter Allen (Holmesglen TAFE), and David Atkinson (RMIT). Atkinson said that while an applicant’s drawings might be naïve, it didn’t necessarily mean they’d be bad storytellers—their talent might be in writing and they might make good directors or producers. He reckoned his course could just about turn a mathematician into an animator, suggesting an applicant bring to the interview anything that gives the sense of them as a creative individual, such as visual diaries and journals; he said he’s even had applicants rap dance and serenade him with guitars.

Kalogiratos was quiet while Blumenstein was outspoken, referring to himself as a traditionalist with a 2D style. He expressed disgust for the hackwork animators have to do for studios to make a living, which contrasted with Allen, who said there are no opportunities for 2D work and that it’s best to concentrate on 3D industry and studio work. Stephenson disagreed, saying that the global children’s market is huge for 2D work—Australia just needs to refocus and become “one of the main players.” Allen acquiesced, indicating there is in fact a big market for 3D films that look like 2D; therefore animators may still need 2D skills in order to make the 3D simulation look ‘realistic.’ Of course, the animation course at Allen’s Holmesglen is more industry oriented than the VCA’s or RMIT’s, and it was this contrast that made for lively debate.

So, in essence, that’s what they’re teaching; now let’s see whether the results stacked up in MIAF’s Australian Panorama screening, which this year, we were told, was extended over two sessions as “there were so many outstanding entries.”

Emit (director Fergus Donald, 8’30min, 2007) told of a dead clock in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that ticks again after a space-probe crash. Unfortunately, a dull, derivative story overwhelmed the excellent digital technique. Even before MIAF, I felt I’d already had my fill of cutesy inanimate objects becoming reanimated and anthropomorphised to embark on a ‘rites of passage’ quest set to a Spielbergian score. In the even more pointless Ticketweavels (Caroline Huff, 2’15, 2005), a train ticket was invisibly shredded in stop motion set to a grinding industrial soundtrack. Steve Baker’s An Imaginary Life (5’00, 2007) may have won Tropfest, and the mix of animation and Super 8-style footage might be nicely done, but the story is incredibly hokey.

Brendan Cook’s compelling Heart’s A Mess (4’45, 2007) was a music-video clip for Goyte, with shape-shifting industrial creatures reminiscent of the marching hammers in Pink Floyd’s The Wall film. The Puppetmaker (Timothy Gaul, 4’00, 2006) could have descended into cliché—how many times have you seen a sad puppet yearning to break free of the strings—but instead was atmospheric, short and sweet. Rosalie Osman’s The Rabbit (6’00, 2006) was a silly tale of cats coming back to life to punish an animal beater, while JC Reyes’s Box (1’45, 2006) was a successful union of a short poem about forbidden pleasures with a textured animation style like a twisted children’s book. Thort Bubbles/ Dividing Cells (7’45, 2006) was another stop-motion Caroline Huff effort, overlong, dated and set to a pretentious voiceover (something to do with regeneration).
From Gold to Grapes: The Story of Landsborough From Gold to Grapes: The Story of Landsborough
From Gold to Grapes: The Story of Landsborough (Al MacInnes, 6’15, 2005) had a previous airing at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) in 2006; it features hand-drawn animation by young kids telling the wistful story of the adult narrators in the town of Landsborough. I loved the idea and the execution, and especially the use of real-life stories. It marked a refreshing change from The Luminary (Nicholas Kallincos, 9’15, 2005), also at MIFF 2006, which featured—yes, you guessed it— inanimate objects struggling with human feelings, in this case a light bulb falling in love with a moth. Elka Kerkhof’s Filled with Water (5’00, 2006) was about a female surfer coming across a giant TV in the street; a ballerina performs on the TV screen, the surfer falls through the screen, and they kiss passionately. It’s about feeling comfortable with same-sex leanings, but still, Kerkhof’s sense of narrative is head-scratching.

Carnivore Reflux (The People’s Republic of Animation, 7’00, 2006) was outstanding, with its bitingly witty poem about overeating, indulgence and flatulence set to a savage, ultra-vivid animation style like a cross between Terry Gilliam in his Python days and Marco Ferreri’s feature film La Grande Bouffe. Cry from the Past (6’00, 2007), by Susan Stamp (a VCA animation lecturer), was a lovely piece about the old-time Boydtown whalers, and the quirky whales themselves, with excellent technique, halfway between watercolour and animated charcoal. Fraught (Stephanie Brotchie, Chris Pahlow and Maia Terrell, 6’00, 2006) was also very good, drawing on real-life stories of embarrassing moments, with the interviewees overlaid with a variety of animation styles including surreal cut-outs, and shimmering line drawings.

..:: read the rest at RealTime.

‘Subterrain #2: An Introduction’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #2, July 2007.

Subterrain is a magazine that provides an opportunity for homeless and marginalised people, primarily those using the services at Ozanam Community Centre (see opposite), to tell their story. That’s about it as far as mantras or mission statements go. We’ve already published one edition, in November 2005, and that was a great success, relaying stories from Melbourne’s real ‘underground’ with candour and wit. We didn’t pull any punches and the feedback we received was that most who read it were moved by the emotions and intelligence on display. With that encouraging start behind us, we were grateful to the City of Melbourne’s Community Community Cultural Development program, which supplied us with further funding to publish a second edition.

And here we are, with some returning contributors plus a whole flock of new participants. As before, what strikes me is the honesty and the willingness of people to tell the story of their lives. There’s no shirking, no blaming others, no looking for a ‘free ride’, no denial of responsibility – none of the negative clichés that seem to stick to homeless people like mud or even shit, propagated by the mainstream media and smug members of the general public who think they know it all. No, in its place is simply that raw, naked willingness to get to the heart of the matter: ‘This is wrong; this is broken. And this is what I’m going to do about it.’

The theme of the first edition was the ways in which artistic and recreational projects can make a difference to the lives of ‘homeless and marginalised’ people. We profiled theatremakers, sportspeople, writers, poets, filmmakers and musicians who’ve worked with disadvantaged people, and we interviewed the participants themselves. The result was a compelling body of work and a clear message for the politicians to chew over: ‘The arts can, and have made a difference to people’s lives, and what the hell are you doing trying to cut funding?’

For this edition, an equally important theme began to emerge: that public housing and crisis accommodation in this country is woefully inadequate. It’s not that we consciously set out to document this issue, simply that in all the interviews we conducted – and in all the poetry and writing submissions we received – this was the central, crucial concern of people ‘living the life’: how do you find a safe, stable roof over your head when you are struggling with mental-health issues, or drug and alcohol issues? Where are the safety nets?

(more…)