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Digital Dreamtime goes to Toronto supplied by dot ayu 12 October 2014
D
igital Dreamtime is the title of an online Indigenous media arts showcase from Australia presented by cyberTribe, for the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival in Canada. Cairns-based Screen Artist/ Curator Jenny Fraser was invited to curate the show as an online exhibition and will also tour to Canada to present the works in a special 90 minute cinema screening at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Theatre in Toronto, 22 – 26 October. cyberTribe will also soon be marking the 15th anniversary of exhibitions and events and Digital Dreamtime has been shaped to showcase and enhance the local and national wealth of creative talent in the variety of artforms made by and for the screen in Australia. The project features experimental works from artists whose work focuses on the production non-linear storytelling, authorship, accessibility, new media literacy and, explores the past and future potentials of online digital storytelling. “I am so proud that many Murri and others, especially from Northern Australia are represented in the Digital Dreamtime, for the spotlight on Australia at imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival 15th anniversary this year. These are screenmakers voices that are usually left out of national and international representation. The problem is compounded because, in the Far North there are also a number of number of Indigenous screenmakers already with long histories of working in a variety of screen mediums, who have to date gone unacknowledged in our home state
Boy and moth by Rebekah Pitt. All images supplied
of Queensland. Unlike other states, Queensland has no Indigenous Unit in the State Screen Funding body. However despite the lack of support at home, the Digital Dreamtime show will honour our screenmakers internationally” said Jenny Fraser. Representing their own home states and territory, the artists featured in the Digital Dreamtime exhibition are Michael Riley (NSW 1960–2004), r e a (NSW), June Mills (NT), Luke Briscoe (QLD), Maree Clarke (VIC), Michelle Blakeney (NSW), Rebekah Pitt
(QLD), John Graham (QLD) and Christine Peacock (QLD), Gilimbaa, Ross Watson (QLD 1944-2013), Zane Saunders with File_Error (QLD) and artist / curator Jenny Fraser. Some of the new projects have also been selected for competition at the 15th annual imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival, and as curator, Jenny Fraser will also represent the project, participating in panels and other forums, screenings and industry gatherings. The new web presence for
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Cairns-based Screen Artist/Curator Jenny Fraser
Digital Dreamtime is presented by cyberTribe and will remain online for public viewing long after the screening in Toronto. cyberTribe is an unfunded online gallery focused on nurturing digital and experimental art, which has been at the forefront of exhibiting cutting edge and politically important artworks from Indigenous Artists internationally, both online gallery and other gallery spaces across the world. Over the years cyberTribe, has brought together Indigenous artists from places across Australia, the Pacific, the Americas and elsewhere to participate in exhibitions of international standing. The Digital Dreamtime exhibition is the richer for the inclusion of key groundbreaking work, which was pre-digital, yet
laid down a pattern for storytelling and screen culture occurring now. “What we present here digitally re-tells and documents stories of grief and loss, along with those of protest, reclamation, revitalisation, cultural maintenance, healing and rebirth. Digital Natives are resistance fighters in the Culture War and can explore the possibilities in promoting culture, while also defending and spearheading strategic public and private responses to apartheid and Neo-Colonial regimes. We acknowledge the creators in the decades before us, who laid a track in the collective contemporary re-Dreaming, which works to reinforce existing ideas by connecting ancient storytelling traditions and sophisticated visual literacy with gadget ingenuity” said
Jenny Fraser. The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world’s largest Indigenous festival, that celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples on the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio, and new media. Held in Toronto each year, the festival presents a selection of the most compelling and distinctive Indigenous works from around the world. The festival’s screenings, panel discussions, and cultural events attract and connect film makers, media artists, programmers, buyers, and industry professionals. The works accepted reflect the diversity of the world’s Indigenous nations and illustrate the vitality and excellence of Native art and culture in contemporary media. This year’s International Spotlight, presented with support from the Canada Media Fund, shines on the diverse, inspiring and remarkable work of Indigenous artists from Australia. Over the past 15 years, many artists from Australia’s vibrant and accomplished Indigenous media arts industry have been presented at imagineNATIVE. As part of this Spotlight, imagineNATIVE is absolutely delighted to work with three highly esteemed guest programmers: Rachel Perkins, Pauline Clague, and Jenny Fraser who will each present a selection of short works representative of different sectors of Native life in Australia. Plans are also underway for cyberTribe to bring the Digital Dreamtime exhibition to Australia in 2015, for an exhibition in Cairns, and also further showings at galleries and festivals internationally.
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