sweet peats hangover

 photo: kate taylor

so the punk monks picnicked at peats. after a fashion. we sweated, kicked sand in our own face, painted with light & distorted soundwaves, curated a 360 degree film installation, & bled from our ears in the sweet stickiness of the heat & good vibes which oozed like an impenetrable aura around the festival-sphere. 

we made love to the geodesic dome & paid homage to the rejenr8 & figure eight tribes who held court there. visions of the phantom menace battle scene pervade except there were much less special effects. for the most part, excluding the dome, the few days there were really rather deliciously analogue/lo fi. as orgies usually are.

there'll be a more complete wrap later, once we've collated footage, images, etc and all sat together for a new year pow wow/debrief. however the ABC just did a story on the expansiveness of the art experience which is peats & profiled us [punk monk propaganda] featuring a much sleep deprived interview with me on the home strait of editing "15Mb of FAME" our crowd sourced film festival initiative. somewhere in the life-saving air-conditioned shadows, steven patiently waits.

so this is all about puff & ponce on the back of the wonderful punk monks collaborative efforts and muchos hard work as i run out the door to escape the urban swell and heat. time to mix up the scenery before chewing mammothian chunks into the year.

kudos to the peat's ridge punk monks & family. they are:

clare devlin mahoney

alexander papasavvas

kate taylor

ky-lee menzies

steven kastrissios

andrew berman

anna slowiaczek

alexander sovronsky

james crawford

jacqui stanton
domonique turner

15Mb of FAME [Peats Ridge 2010] 

it really was a supreme team effort. life at some points may not have gone on without a well placed gin & sparkling pink grapefruit juice. and this is one of our results: 15Mb of FAME. the culmination of 48 hours or so of crowd sourced punk monk driven lurve. power to peats ridge festival [waves at victoria johnstone] for having the vision to let us play in such a wonderful playground. we're looking forward to hitting rinse repeat again next year.

food for thought

from our recent punk monk propaganda group art exhibition: decorating loos. 


in addition to the installation created with clare & alex, we also spent a couple of late nights in the gallery with jay getting trigger happy with stencils and text...

winter woollies

under the cool setting sun deep in the highland bush, clare & i make a sheep wool garden from sheared offcuts amidst the interweaving mandalas. 

the lanolin rich dags form one lustrous absorbent layer in our no dig replacing the usual bottom straw/lucerne fill. 

because plants deserve insulation too.

suburbs spawn existentialism

BTS with AWOL MONK: talking to heremaia rudkin about the "what if girl"

extract from #KSZ 02 [sydney kino zine]

ironically this month's behind the scenes featured filmmaker whose amazing almost bus stop romance originally captured my imagination at newtown flicks is featured in #KSZ02. the zine was released last night on the night of kino#37 where steven kastrissios who featured last month in BTS with AWOL MONK for issue 01 had an equally enigmatic almost bus stop romance short film screen as his first ever KINO film. stop the zeitgeist bus! the trick is whether there's a trifecta... tune in next month & see.

heremaia rudkin despite being disarmingly handsome is a quintessentially bashful kiwi boy made good. although he’d never admit it.  

we shared some locally brewed beers last wknd on an erskineville pavement under the sun & talked about the recent success of his no/lo-budget film WHAT IF GIRL which was awarded the panavision industry prize at the recent cool kid on the festival block, newtown flicks as well as playing in the shortlisted “audience bites back” finale night which featured the most popular film from each previous sesh. 

upon seeing the film i made a direct beeline. he oozes a polished yet casual KINO sensibility asking big questions in small format. his film is, dare i say, like him likeable. extremely identifiable. in a savvy understated eastern suburbs kinda way. despite being an inner west fest, the dilemma universal.

a graduate of NZ film school, heremaia dabbles in video production by day to pay bills but his passion for story telling takes him into the wonderful world of film at night. and yes his nan helped finance his short. hello australian film industry.

newtown flicks is the test fest for the film & it’s an undeniably great result & infinitely valuable springboard. newtown flicks provides a respected forum & veritable hotbed of talent lurking beneath the cinematic radar while gallantly competing this year with the competitive film calendar by going head to head with the 57th sydney film festival. a scheduling nightmare but still viable due to the scope of the programme. closing night was near full with all bums accounted for on seats.

encouraged heremaia now looks to his new town to provide the stimulus & setting for many more films with an avant garde music video in the works & a very different story. We talk 7D. canon has really hit the indie filmmaker sweet spot — there’s an observable trend. every other indie filmmaker is ditching their large format HDV cameras & downsizing/upgrading to the canon DSLR with HD video range.

his challenge [a problem common to many emerging financially-strapped filmmakers] however is to build a tribe to work with.

like the born-again pimp i am, i tell him about the new cine religion at fraser studios one monday a month & he promises to come. one thing there is no shortage of in sydney is a film subculture coupled with a community which supports & nurtures fresh talent. whether or not he does come, there is no “what if” about heremaia's promising screen future.

NB. images used are copyright the filmmaker [heremaia rudkin]. thanks to heremaia for use of pics]

BTS with AWOL MONK is a regular behind the scenes segment which can be found in every issue of kino sydney's zine produced by punk monks clare devlin-mahoney, alexander papasavvas & kate taylor with contributions from other kino lovers. [#ksz]

zen toilet flux

zen toilet flux: the install at "decorating loos" group art exhibition. 

we graffiti'd the toilet doors in custom-made cubicles built into the gallery infrastructure as well as creating our own transmedia experiment beyond the walls in the gallery atrium. we integrated crowd-sourced haiku into an evolving zine on a "toilet roll" sculpted into a living waterfall.

photos by alexander papasavvas

zen toilet flux -- artist statement:

inner reflections 

at haiku waterfall, space

time continuum

public toilet is a misnomer for a meditative space which offers respite from the incessant hub of the outside. often associated with graffiti which is unfairly represented as transgressive or low-brow, it seems natural when given quiet time that we seek to make our mark: a tangible extension of our thoughts, on a wall, commencing way back when with antediluvian art.



whether this communication serves a purpose other than advertisement or is merely a human compulsion to disrupt order & white space is not definitive.

in the frenetic paced urban world can art be typographically packaged into the convenience of haiku for the person on the street & ultimately fuse gallery & gutter?

this stylized urban zen garden welcomes you. the crowd-sourced haiku waterfall’s negative ions offer regenerative tranquility and the invitation to all for reflection at the water’s edge.

exhibition ends this wknd. come soak up the art. find a happy place.

"decorating loos"

featuring art by punk monk propaganda & talented others

at the vanishing point

565 king street

newtown

haiku: crowd sourced toilet art

this saturday june 05, 2010 fellow punk monks; clare, alex and i are creating a crowd sourced art experiment at ATVP [at the vanishing point] gallery. 


it is the first of multiple parts of our protest installation about transgressive toilet decoration in response to adolf loos, the puritanical aesthetist's theory that "one can measure the culture of a country by the degree its lavatory walls are daubed".  


this is a transmedia project with varied entry points arguing that high art need not conflict with form nor function but readily adapts to space and time. 


the work in progress will be revealed on opening night june 10. our success largely relies on participation. this experiment requires neither rocket scientists nor fine artists. please spread the word.


we'll be there at 2pm. come join the quiet fray!


email me @ propaganda[at]punk-monk.com with any questions.


decorating loos @ ATVP
at the vanishing point - contemporary art inc.
565 king street
newtown, australia

but where are all the pretty horses?

BTS with AWOL MONK: - talking to steven kastrissios about the horseman

extract from #KSZ 01 [first issue sold out may 2010]

steven kastrissios is a man of immense paradox. BEHIND THE SCENES he’s gentle, humble & wry. we’ve become great friends since we met in 2008 at a night of horror international film festival.

but his multiple award-winning accolade ripping feature film THE HORSEMAN which he’s just sold for international distribution reveals a guy ritchie on steroids meets early rolf de heer auteur. his characterisation brutal. bad boy bubby has left the building & moved into pest control. *sideways look*

the horseman story is one of fairytales. the kind with blood, sweat & tears. lots of blood. this is no holds barred action with gritty realism. steven envisaged it & succeeded. in the cinema i’ve seen people leave. in horror. i did some quiet gut wrenching of my own.

made on the wings of a short prayer based on his feature screenplay to garner interest, the brisbane exile then made this, his first feature in true blue indie fashion.

instead of a big fat greek wedding his parents invested their house against the now defunct 10BA cert [since replaced by the producer offset] to support his dream & his sisters eloped. well almost.

the gamble paid huge dividends since the end of 2006 when a small multi-tasking crew used one location in oh so many ways to stretch budget till the lycra was all spent & producer rebecca dakin could cook no more after a brilliantly choreographed 4 week shoot for what is technically a no-budget film. by australian standards.

as the awards rained down, steven returned to newly adopted sydney from a successful session at texas’s SXSW 2009 to wrap the marketing material for distributors & consider the calm before the prevailing storm.

we discuss the current climate for making films. “noone returned my calls before either” he says as we ruefully discuss my plans for his shiny new 5D mark II & share fantastical post-apocalyptic visions for future projects.

he leaves after drinking wine to catch a plane for his sister’s engagement party. like the prodigal son/brother he is, he has returned & she got her dowry back.

NB. "the horseman" images [including production shots] are copyright kastle films. thanks for letting me use them steven. the rest are copyleft/creative commons courtesy of yours truly.


for details re: the horseman australian theatrical release later this year please check kastle films.

BTS with AWOL MONK is a regular behind the scenes segment which can be found in every issue of kino sydney's zine produced by punk monks clare devlin-mahoney, alexander papasavvas & kate taylor with contributions from other kino lovers. [#ksz]

poor little matchstick girl

alex papasavvas & clare devlin mahoney - lost

no people...on the walls. or any other surface. despite numerous photos everywhere. yet the gallery was packed last night as peeps flocked through the doors to savour excellent photography with no face. yet still implied human value.


the digital consumerist age has placed photography in the hands of the masses, more so than ever. the incredible proliferation of trigger-happy portrait snaps with an inverted signal to noise ratio littering the interwebs is increasingly out of whack. still, there's nothing more subjective than art.

jason SG white - dreams

"no people" at the vanishing point shares stories of being with delicious fragmentation. freshly delivered bite-sized pieces whet the palate enabling those who interact with the pieces to conceive their own complete meal: whether it's mcdonalds for one or ancini balls for another.


take an abandoned box of empty matches on a city street. add imagination. spark & stir. desaturated in name but not in nature. thanks for the colorful ingredients punk monks' alex & clare. the only thing "lost" about your zine was it, buried under the delighted throes for the night. it was hard to get a clear shot in [with my happy-snap phone camera].

sue storry - sixteen people

i just love the vibe at ATVP gallery. it's the iconic centre of a hub which shows the inner west has truly arrived. the wankers can keep the eastern suburbs. 


this dynamic vibe & humming space are testament to the entire buzz which is sweeping the gutter edge of the city. the artistic expression is free. there's an unpretentious honesty when a gallery asks for donations for the wine & the people pay. they really are there for the art. and it's worth it.


the group exhibition curated by alex wisser via contemporary art inc opened last night and is part of the ambitious HEAD ON photo festival involving 67 venues showcasing local and international photographers across all genres. no people runs till may 16.


no people
at the vanishing point
565 king street
newtown
[02] 9519 2340

rattling convergent realities

so... still rendered almost incapable of speech & motion by my chocolate alchemy skills for last night's punk monk propaganda mushroom party at possible world's canadian film festival screening of ron mann's "know your mushrooms" & the incredible fusion of forces led by punk monk producer, kate taylor as she led our wonderful tribe most notably clare, dermot, ky, davey, alex, michelle, raen, andy and barry on a magical mystery sensory adventure through the red rattler playground for the night.

an incredible spectacular featuring a street carnivale & magical enchanted spaces the immediate entry vibe of the event was infused with a warm technicolor chill. specific events to note: liquid light show, street projections, fluro hoola hoop girls, fire twirlers, handmade zines and that minature luminescent world... not to mention the wonderful film AND the 'shroom crepes.

i am still at the fireplace in space warming my marshmallows slowly. but am happy to remotely post these pics by fellow punk monk, andy finn after he went happily AWOL with my camera into the pulsing red & yellow womb of the night.

the chocolate tin is now empty. but the hole in the roof of the corner shop [punk monk HQ] remains.

church of KINO

sometimes i feel like i belong to an evangelical society -- such is the unstoppable feel-good tide which is the underground film movement, KINO & the associated reverence it creates amongst its followers.

last night was KINO #29 which was held at new über venue fraser studios, just behind the clare on broadway, skirting the fringe of sydney's CBD [where we ultimately ended up before the adorable dregs made it back to mine at the corner shop for an impromptu hot chip cooking session].

eighteen short films screened head-lined by incredibly talented jack's wonderful tribute to HP lovecraft [just selected for the 5th singapore short film festival] which irrevocably raised the bar for the night. still there were many other great films to follow including punk monk andy's oficially popping his KINO cherry with twisted love ballad, "a little shitty animation."

the very french & venerable leader miss marianne MC'd to a crowd of 150 peeps whilst matt projected & shone, karina expertly organised & punk monks clare & alex made crepes for all whilst the rest of us downed whiskey upon whiskey [or coopers beer] courtesy of will at the jamesons bar. the festivalists continue to place their indelible & delightful film stamp all over sydney town.

in my crippled introverted sobriety i mostly hung quietly by my prized heater spot at the front where the ever lovely stephen C & i shared a blankie under the pulsing short cinematic wave whilst giant incandescent cubes glowed all around us in picture perfect warehouse chic.

as promised, i also made a little experimental film just for fun with stevie the night before. a tribute to our night out earlier in the week where we hit the 80s themed roller disco at carriageworks in full furore & i just happened to have my trusty mobile phone...

roller punks from punk monk propaganda on vimeo.