THE STORY OF THE EARLY DAYS OF THE e PARTY, CONCIEVED IN 1984, PERFORMED BY ANDY P, STEVE WIGG AND MAX AXE. SEE HOW THE GREAT NATIONAL DAY, A CATASTROPHIC EVENT, CREATED F TERROR, WHICH IN TURN INCREASED THE ethink! Virtual set, e party editorial research, music and editing by Andy Petrusevics.
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Last year, during the Moving Image Project, I was privileged to witness
artist Andy Petrusevics as the Neo-Dada character "Otto". He presented a
short music video ("The price of things is going up, the price of things-
It's Senceless!") that had my friend and I laughing in stitches for its
duration. Other people in the audience were chuckling lightly, and I am
still not quite sure why It's Senceless struck my funny bone so hard. That
said, I was quite looking forward to having the pleasure of viewing three of
Petrusevics' videos during this year's Moving Image Project.
In one of those videos, The Gnd, Petrusevics and two other men in beige
suits and hats begin to recite a sometimes-unintelligible script about The
Gnd, or The Great National Day. As the artist details in the cinema
screening programme, "The Great National Day is Soon! Ride the GND Bus to
the centre of the e capital for the greatest day known to e citizens"
(Mercury Cinemas, 2006). Without viewing the video, this sounds like a big
bunch of nonsense-- which is probably exactly what Petrusevics is aiming
for. The three starring men of The Gnd seem like regular, patriotic chaps,
who would do anything for their "e party". Is it any coincidence that the
leader of the e party looks like a gremlin-faced John Howard? I think not.
Petrusevics is playing a little humourous game with his audience, and poking
fun at those who swear allegiance to their nation, which continuously leaves
followers disillusioned. As the e men make it to The Great National Day in
the e city, they are suddenly under threat by-- who else-- f. Everything
ends in disaster when the e party is forced to destroy the f party by
bombing their own e city, but, in the end, everything works out fine when
they pop another mind-numbing e pill.
For some reason, this time I was not laughing the whole way through
Petrusevics' The Gnd (possibly because I couldn't help but connect strands
of dialogue and images to things occurring in the present), but I admit
there were a few chuckles. His use of irony, parody and satire leave me
envious and wondering "Why didn't I think of that?" Petrusevics does a
wonderful job at poking fun at the current fears held by people within
Australian society (and those held around the world, for that matter). We
now live in a country that demands our patriotism ("It's either Us or
Them"). We live each day wondering when our own e city (the West) will be
attacked by the evil f party (the Islamic terrorists). Being a Lebanese
Muslim myself, viewing Petrusevics' The Gnd was admittedly refreshing, as it
is so easy to forget that there are people out there actually analysing the
political events that occur in a cynical and critical, but intelligent way.
From my position, it is so easy to slip into the mindset of believing that
everyone in Australia truly believes that the world is an Us versus Them
game. Petrusevics' videos were certainly the highlight of the entire Moving
Image Project (and his works were among the longest at 6, 15 and 12
minutes). However, their humour, wit and colourful imagery made them easy to
swallow, just like an e party pill.
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