SynCity: Catalogue DVD

SynCity- remixing three generations of sample culture, was the first of a series of planned annual exhibitions and publications, which bring back into the public domain a selection of works drawn from our collection, consciously linking three successive generations of screen artists who have moved through our organisation since the early 1980’s. SynCity is about a history of sampling and remix culture since the early 1980’s and also of our organisation d/lux/Media/Arts both now and in its previous incarnations of Sydney Intermedia Network [S.I.N.] and the Sydney Super 8 Film Group.

Over the past three years the development and documentation of our collection and archive as we approached our 25^th anniversary has presented us with significant challenges and opportunities alike. We have been acutely aware of the fact that there is little in the way of publicly available documentation and writing about the evolution of Australian experimental screen and media arts culture dating back to the 1980’s when in Australia, there was a flourishing alternative arts and screen culture scene developing and consolidating driven largely by independent artists and filmmakers. Thus the importance of conserving, researching, documenting and presenting the work of the hundreds of screen and media artists that we have presented over the past 25 years is vital.

Throughout this process, the theme of evolution in form, aesthetics and technology has been a central consideration, and we have reached a point where we can curate new projects focused on a conceptual framework or set of ideas, which allow us to track specific trajectories of imagination and critical inquiry spanning three generations. In SynCity, and in future exhibitions, the evolution of ideas, aesthetics, modes of production or presentation that have significantly influenced and informed the current zeitgeist will be articulated, such as the transitions from analogue to digital aesthetics, representations of the body, softwares, hardware, transgressive politics, abstraction or de-construction to name but a few that we will explore in depth in the coming years.

In the case of SynCity, appropriation, sampling, re-mixing, cut ups, vidding [whatever the current determination of that idea is?] are to the fore, wickedly critiquing the language and form of popular screen culture in an exhibition, which includes over 40 screen artists and some 50 works dating back to 1982, such is the depth of our history. The four catalogue essays and the introduction by curator Mark Titmarsh, the DVD and exhibition website provide a necessary historical and conceptual framework for viewing SynCity and are an important first step toward documenting the evolution of both an idea and an organisation.

You can download the essay by curator Mark Titmarsh below.  To purchase a copy of the full SynCity catalogue/DVD, please contact us.

Attachments:

File	Description	File size
Sticking It to the Man by Mark Titmarsh	Catalogue PDF (Zipped)	299 Kb

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