TERROR NULLIUS, the “controversial” new film by artist–filmmakers Soda_Jerk (Dominique Angeloro and Dan Angeloro) opens with a slightly distorted rendition of “Advance Australia Fair”. It appropriately sets the scene for what is to come, as the film takes its viewers on a wide-ranging journey, in three acts, which emphasises the dark underside to Australian popular culture and politics. Filtered through the lens of Australia’s cinematic and televisual histories, the artists sample, edit and recombine hundreds of moments from film and television into their 55-minute film, a frenetic road-trip through Australian political and social affairs.
Only a few years ago, I would have described this creative form as a “mashup”, however the term now seems painfully dated in our hyper-literate, digitally adept, super-sharing culture. From memes and GIFs, to “post-internet art”, to the multi-layered allusionism of television shows such as Stranger Things (2016–), it can feel like everything is a remix nowadays. In fact, mashups are more than simply mainstream; they have been legitimised and institutionalised as distinct forms of discourse and critique. The ABC’s video editor Huw Parkinson, for instance, won a Walkley Award in Multimedia Storytelling for his clever remix videos of political commentary; and the “audiovisual essay” has become its own distinct mode of analysis in film and media studies.
Kate Warren is a writer, curator and researcher based in Melbourne, with a particular interest in cross-overs between contemporary art, film, photography and moving image practices. She received her PhD in Art History from Monash University in 2016.
