In Unruly Times, like many of us, I have experienced two significant stand-out events, the devastating bushfires of 2019- 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, my focus has been on reconnecting with the natural world by closely observing local Superb Lyrebirds, documenting their unique behaviours, vocalizations, and dance.
As the field of deep fake algorithms continues to evolve, their ability to convincingly simulate the visual appearance and acoustic characteristics of real individuals becomes increasingly advanced. Interestingly, the Australian Lyrebird has been a master of mimicry since ancient times, mimicking birds within its environment and more recently, chainsaws and cameras. Inspired by this natural and artificial phenomenon of mimicry, this project explores the intricate dynamics of representation, perception, and deception.
The first sequence documents the Lyrebird's mimicry in realtime, disrupting the interplay between real, reversed, and negative time to distort traditional conventions of cinematic time. In the second sequence slowly animated hybrid creatures, are morphed together. Created using genetic algorithms trained on millions of images, new images were created by cross-breeding multiple image genes. These morphing entities exist in a synthesised latent space, created by the artist, the community, and algorithms, challenging notions of abstraction, representation, and authorship. Thirdly, a text-to-image-generated image of a person converses using the lyrical language of the Lyrebird. This convergence hints at a future where interconnectedness between humanity, technology, and nature becomes further intertwined.
By blurring the boundaries between these seemingly separate domains, I invite viewers to contemplate the interplay between the enigmatic aspects of nature, our conceptual understanding of representation and perception, the potential dangers of hyper-realistic fakes, and the potential futures of virtual characters embodied with animal behaviours.
Silicon dioxide, Gluteus maximus is an experimental short film exploring the Surreal and psychological nature of selected elements, presented on a beach on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The work mythologises the notion of paradise by only shooting at midday on hot, clear summer days. This projects a false representation of the Australian way of life and its beach culture by excluding its changing weather conditions. The psychological interplay between the presented elements suggests a metamorphosis between humans and sea creatures and features a protagonist in the form of a crab who induces waterspouts from orifices or blowholes, the whale's version of nostrils. Digital visual effects are used to infuse a post-internet aesthetic that treats the natural environment as a fluid transformation portal. The work has an Australian sense of humour as it does not take itself too seriously, whilst casually incorporating references to Surrealist iconography and popular culture (The Sunbaker by Max Dupain 1937 and Lobster Telephone by Salvador Dalí 1936).
Emanating from a contracting a membrane called a tymbal cicadas use their sound to attract females and at the height of the hottest summer The Double Drummer is reputedly the loudest insect in the world. This recording was made on the 29th of December 2013. Since then, no further sightings of this species have been sighted, is this due to changes in climate and the intense bushfires in the summer of 2019-2020?
Therefore, this video is a rare incident of a close encounter with Double Drummers in my locality. The editing of various shots was cut together to enhance the repetitive nature of the loud cicada sounds. The audio was then fed through various resonators to create a sound art musical accompaniment. I hope to see the Double Drummer again one day soon.
Selected video works, 2021-2023 and The cube that came from the sea was exhbited in the group exhbition Emanations, Project8, Melbourne, 2023. Superb Lyrebird Sequences, 2023, exhbited in ACM SIGGRAPH Asia 2023 Art Gallery, ICC Sydney, 2023.