A project by Street Level curated by Kathy Cleland and David Cranswick
The Performance Space, Sydney
21 March - 14 April, 1996

There is only one problem with new media/multimedia/cyber exhibitions and that is all too often there is a difficulty in getting to the work, to see or interact with it. People like to spend time at the terminals and one can end up waiting quite some time for the experience. Cybercultures at The Performance Space is no exception; with a high standard of works presented and plenty to spend time on. The seven participating artists deal directly with 'altered states' experienced by the users of contemporary and virtual technologies: that mumbo-jumbo mixture of 'real' and 'virtual' world operating mores that fuse into one inconsistent mass - particularly after long computer sessions.

Patricia Piccinini in TMGP (The Mutant Genome Project) parodies 'consumer medicine' with an interactive simulator program that allows you to design your own 'LUMPy baby' according to the limitations of your budget. The LUMP/baby is a designer-adapted species for our new post-ozone layer environment that with intent discusses the implications of The Human Genome Project technologies. These desirable babes are also displayed as stills with their vinylish (UV resistant) peeled back skin and innards flayed open for inspection.

Martine Corompt in Sorry! deals with cuteness by killing it, well cutely that is; cartoon style and with a mere stamp of the foot. See their smiling faces disintegrate until death descends, but no, only moments later and they're back as 'bright and perky' (and irritating) as ever; reincarnated in true cartoon fashion. I found it more satisfying to stamp them harder, even though you don't need to, that way you can really feel the impact of each blow. When is dead dead? Witness their disintegration through states ranging from damaged, no, not yet, to angry, not yet, spinning no still not yet and finally dead, skull and crossbones; ah yes there she/he/it is dead at last. Mission accomplished!

Elena Popa and Troy Innocent present four in-depth works: Techno Digesto Fetishism, Jawpan, Nano in NewSOS and Robot Cycle. With these works Popa and Innocent make sophisticated and elegant inquiries about technology-based cultures (Japan, America and Australia) intermingling the 'rules' and possibilites of 'real' and technological worlds. Enter the computer and another world exists, a chance to create one's own (dys)utopia. These humorous works reference popular culture and new technology debates whilst articulating personal aesthetics relevant to the tools employed and further investigating and developing new ways of contemporary art making.

Maryella Hatfield's Range of Experience, 1993, an earlier work developed prior to 'virtual' satiation, details a projected future where certain lost experiences are simulated for humans through the machine. The work houses a painterly aesthetic and an underwater, dream-like quality. A layered, sensual and sensory experience with surround-sound, this 15 minute film was designed to overwhelm the experiencer, an aspect unfortunately lost at this site.

Josephine Starrs and Leon Cmielewski in The User Unfriendly Interface design rude and unfriendly interfaces and ask why we would assume computers would want to be friendly to us. They allege power and conspiracy theories into 'our lambs to the slaughter' surrender to being a part of the new cyberspace. The ongoing subplot purported is that there is continual surveillance of the clamouring participants all too eager to define themselves in relation to technology.

The exhibition curated by Kathy Cleland and David Cranswick is part of an ongoing series of Street Level projects. Street Level now operates outside of a gallery space both as astrategy and as an economic neccessity. Space is an expensive overhead in Sydney and artists and curators are developing new and more appropriate ways to deal with 'matter' by accessing community resources and utilising communication technologies. Street Level is presently organising events and initiatives at a range of 'real' and 'virtual' sites and will be integrating educational and web resources into its 'for the future' operating plans.

© Ann Morrison, 1996
MESH film/video/multimedia/art #10,MESH is published by Experimenta Media Arts