By Brett Kennedy
VIDEO art is a relatively new concept for Limestone Coast creative John Baseley but combining his passion for photography and music into one seemed like a no-brainer.
Mr Baseley is one of three local artists to feature in the International Limestone Coast Video Art Festival, which launches tonight at Riddoch Art Gallery.
The biennial festival will showcase innovate works created by 37 video artists, all based on the theme Video art during and after the pandemic.
Shortlisted from more than 1800 entries, Mr Baseley’s piece Virus – Obey the New Normal – was sparked from initially reading about the festival in The Border Watch earlier this year.
With ideas flying through his mind, Mr Baseley started to explore how COVID-19 had impacted societies across the globe, including in his own backyard.
Mr Baseley’s early inspiration came from books such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
“Essentially they touch on how large populations can be influenced in a certain way,” Mr Baseley said.
Mr Baseley explores this notion through varied acts within his two minute, 47 second piece.
It starts with a microscopic virus cell, coupled with a droning and repetitive audio track.
“It shows how something so small can have such a large effect on society,” Mr Baseley said of the first scene.
As the video progresses through a mish-mash of imagery and animations, the audio grows louder, a deliberate attempt by the artist to simulate the stress-inducing nature of a pandemic.
“The longer the virus goes on, it overwhelms everything we do and starts controlling the things we thought we were in control of,” he said.
As the video progresses further, so do the themes with mandatory testing and heightened security depicted.
“There is a constant portrayal of fear and uncertainty so there is compliance,” Mr Baseley said.
“People want to be seen to be doing something rather than doing nothing because if you are doing nothing it seems like you don’t care.”
Mr Baseley said the themes of control and conformity were focal points as he believed these elements had become more prevalent than the virus itself.
The video rounds out with imagery highlighting a “new normal” for a post-pandemic society.
“I purposely kept my video below three minutes because minutes with today’s media and attention span, I didn’t want to break the pacing of the entry,” he said.
With a keen interest in global societies, human behaviour and psychology, Mr Baseley – who works as a paramedic – enjoyed exploring different thought patterns connected to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“It will be very interesting for people who have not gone to the Riddoch Art Gallery in a while to head along and see something different,” he said.
“They will be able to work out what an artist is trying to say or watch them tell a story or narrative.”
Gallery director Dr Melentie Pandilovski said the biennial event celebrated video art and placed emphasis on innovative and ground-breaking artworks.
“Video art is a versatile medium expanding across new platforms and is a definitive centre-stage of today’s culture,” Dr Pandilovski said.
“It is proving to be the perfect medium for conveying various narratives framed around the current COVID-19 pandemic, including the story of the survival of humanity.”
The program includes open call and curated selections, an exhibition, live telematic event, online screening and workshops.
“Many of the video art stories you will witness address various anxieties, worries and economic strains. However, there are also optimistic stories filled with humour, electing to present entertainment in the face of catastrophe, deep contemplation, solidarity, community mindfulness, risk-taking, compassion, and cheerfulness amid self-revelation,” Dr Pandilovski said.
The six-person judging panel also selected Limestone Coast artists Luke Pellen and Mostyn Jacob in the final 29 videos.
A $3000 Open Call grand prize, $1500 Best Limestone Coast Based Video Art and $1500 Best Limestone Coast Based Video Art for young up-and-coming artists (under 26 years) will be announced at tonight’s opening event at the gallery from 6pm.
Telematic video artist Paul Sermon, who is based in Bristol, UK, will connect with participants in the Riddoch Arts and Cultural Centre media and virtual reality studio tomorrow, joined by artists based in Singapore, London and Sao Paulo, Brazil for a live online performance to tell stories of self-isolation.
A visual storytelling workshop will also be held tomorrow and Sunday with a focus on approaches and techniques for moving and static pictures, led by David Blaiklock and Dan McLean from UniSA Creative.
The Generative Art workshops with Western Australian artist and filmmaker Vladimir Todorovic, who will guide participants through 3D animation and gaming software, are fully booked
UniSA Creative (CTV) has also pledged a $10,000 in-kind commitment to this year’s festival to deliver public workshops and to mentor the Young Artist awardee.
The festival will continue until December 6.
