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Danchi Dreams by Cody Ellingham “I shot the series at nighttime, the time of the dreams. I wanted to evoke this with the iconic look of windows illuminated from the inside, only hinting at the existence of people.” IMAGES IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE Shibazono Danchi - This photograph was taken on the 12th floor of Shibazono Danchi in Kawaguchi. The marks on the ground are where a playground used to be, now long gone. | Toei Hongo 1-chome Apartment - The hypermodern form of Tokyo Dome theme park contrasts with the harsh concrete hallway of a danchi. | Kawaramachi Danchi The vast interior courtyard space inside a danchi. | Nakanoshima Tamagawa Danchi - The new concrete communities of danchi replaced the wood and dirt of Old Japan. | Shirahige Danchi - The distinctive aesthetic of massive inner-city danchi in Tokyo’s old district emerged in the same era as 2001: A Space Odyssey, a terrestrial kind of spaceship that embodied a bright vision for the future. | Suwa Danchi - By day these buildings have a certain kind of nostalgia, but by night they take on a different aura, quiet and sombre. All images by Cody Ellingham. DANCHI Dreams, at Atelier Takiguchi, Koto-ku, Tokyo (JAPAN), 12–19 May 2018 – danchi-dreams.com
CONTENTS DANCHI DREAMS
Cody Ellingham .................................,......................................................
COMICS FACE
Ive Sorocuk ..............................................................................................
THE INTENTIONS OF F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (TRAILER)
Directed by Shaun & Jay Perry ................,..............................................
THE INTENTIONS OF SHAUN & JAY PERRY
interview by Steve Proposch .................................,.................................
BOOKS BEHIND BARS
Lisa D’Onofrio ....................................................,.....................................
MAY SALON
Maison D’etre .............................................................................................
FINDING THE ART IN PHUKET: THE ART OF LETTING IT GO
Anthony S. Cameron ................................................................................
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COVER: Angelica MESITI, Mother Tongue 2017, two-channel HD colour video and surround sound, 17 minutes; Courtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne, Commissioned by Aarhus European Capital of Culture 2017 in association with the 2018 Adelaide Biennial, photo: Bonnie Elliott. 2018 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Divided Worlds, Art Gallery of South Australia, Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art and Museum of Economic Botany, 3 March – 3 June 2018 - adelaidebiennial.com.au/2018/ Issue 156 MAY 2018 trouble is an independent monthly mag for promotion of arts and culture Published by Trouble Magazine Pty Ltd. ISSN 14493926 EDITOR Steve Proposch CONTRIBUTORS Ive Sorocuk, Lisa D’Onofrio, Anthony S. Cameron, love. GET from AppStore FOLLOW on issuu, facebook & twitter SUBSCRIBE at troublemag.com READER ADVICE: Trouble magazine contains artistic content that may include nudity, adult concepts, coarse language, and the names, images or artworks of deceased Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people. Treat Trouble intelligently, as you expect to be treated by others. Collect or dispose of thoughtfully. DIS IS DE DISCLAIMER! The views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publisher. To the best of our knowledge all details in this magazine were correct at the time of publication. The publisher does not accept responsibility for errors or omissions. All content in this publication is copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without prior permission of the publisher. Trouble is distributed online from the first of every month of publication but accepts no responsibility for any inconvenience or financial loss in the event of delays. Phew!
This comic first appeared in Trouble JULY 2011
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a troubled feature trailer
The Intentions of F. Scott Fitzgerald (Trailer) Directors: Shaun & Jay Perry | Featuring: Lawrie Fildes, Glenn Luck, Mark Reed & Alfred Nicado The Intentions of F. Scott Fitzgerald is a dark existentialist comedy that follows two weary hitmen on a routine ‘clean up’ job. Whilst in a meaningful conversation about The Great Gatsby the two find themselves in a panic as their victim makes a run for it. Screening as part of the St Kilda Film Festival 22 May 2018, from 8pm at the St Kilda Town Hall Running time: 17 minutes I stkildafilmfestival.com.au Also screening as part of the Revelation Perth International Film Festival 5 – 18 July 2018 | revelationfilmfest.org
The Intentions of Shaun & Jay Perry interview by Steve Proposch
“Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Shaun and Jay Perry grew up in a little mountain suburb/town called Olinda in the Dandenong Ranges about an hour and half from Melbourne’s CBD. It’s a lovely place to look at, very lush and green, but kind of isolated. The twins jumped into the arts pretty early, writing stories, drawing cartoons, sculpting with clay and running around filming random things on their Cash Converters Handycam. “Our family is a little strange and very much into the arts, so we’ve always had a lot of encouragement over the years,” they say. Now, at twenty-six years old, they’ve moved closer in to Melbourne. Shaun has almost finished his degree in Professional Writing and Editing at Swinburne University, and feels ready to jump face first into the real world. Jay completed a Bachelor of Screen Production at the University of Canberra, and now works full-time in the CBD, saving cash primarily to help fund future film projects. The twins’ first film together has already achieved some major success, winning two awards last year at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, as well as taking out Best Director at the European Cinematography Awards. The film has also been featured at a number of International festivals, and as part of Flickerfest in 2018. Most recently it was selected for the St Kilda Film Festival (17-26 May) and the Revelation Perth International Film Festival (5-18 July). These are all incredible achievements for a couple of bright, young first-timers who funded their efforts with a clever crowd-funding campaign. And the resulting short is certainly worth the fuss. The Intentions of F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Intentions of Shaun & Jay Perry / Steve Proposch
is a dark, existentialist comedy that follows two Australian hitmen on a routine ‘clean up’ job. Whilst in a meaningful conversation about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most famous novel, The Great Gatsby, the pair find themselves in a panic as their victim makes a run for it. This set-up is original and well-conceived, brilliantly shot, and directed by Shaun and Jay with surprisingly subtle and artful hands. It stars Lawrie Fildes, Glenn Luck, Mark Reed and Alfred Nicdao. First up can you explain who does what job in the team? Jay Perry: The concept for The Intentions of F. Scott Fitzgerald was first developed by Shaun as a short story. He then went on to write a first draft, and then I came in and wrote the second draft. It was from there that we went on to write over ten drafts together to form the final script. Shaun and I both directed the film, Rhys Sherring, a friend and someone we met at university put his hand up to be Producer. Shaun and I have also wanted to collaborate with a long time friend from High School, Scott Mulgrew. He runs his own production company called Woolshed Imaging and he’s an absolute genius behind the camera. We were lucky to have him on board. Scott then reached out to a friend and owner of production company Illum, Matt Read. Matt has had extensive experience in commercial filmmaking and proved to be a vital asset on set in all areas. You are identical twins - does your relationship as brothers and/or as twins inform your process at all? JP: Working with my brother on set had its advantages and disadvantages. It was great to be able to spout any bit of nonsense I liked at the fool, without having the
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repercussions of a professional working relationship. We also didn’t have to deal with egos, or outline who does what and when. We developed the film in our own way and didn’t follow a strict process. We also have a lot of the same tastes and interests, so for example when one of us came up with an idea, it wasn’t hard to convince the other person that the idea had potential. A disadvantage was that both of us are not the best at time management. Thus, our creative process as directors was quite slow and a little unorganised. Something that we both recognise we need to work on. What made you want to become filmmakers? Shaun Perry: My brother and I have always had a bizarre thirst to tell stories even before the days we could read or write. I remember as a kid pacing back and forth, attempting to articulate a story, my older brother transcribing it down in Word on the old Windows 96. In primary school there was always a set hour of reading time and the classmates and I were tired of the same old books available – Dr. Seuss, Harry Potter, Garfield, or something by Paul Jennings. So Jay and I began writing short stories and bringing them in for everyone. Our teacher at the time, Jenny Garrett, was a great support and allowed us to do it. They were usually a rip-off of some movie we had seen, but instead we replaced the characters with our dogs, or our friend’s dogs. We then began writing plays for the class to act out and from there it just naturally moved to making animations on Microsoft Powerpoint, to finally owning our first Handycam. That’s when it really got wild. When it comes to our influences, we have always enjoyed movies that are heavy in theme, but balanced with humour. We think it’s good to have a laugh, but also to have something to chew on afterwards on your drive home. Filmmakers such as Martin Mcdonagh and his brother John, we truly admire. We love the intelligent and often hilarious dialogue they write for their actors. With movies like In Bruges (Martin), Three Billboards (Martin), or The Guard (John), they manage to seamlessly blend comedy and drama together. They are true master auteurs. Other independent directors such as Wes Anderson (The Grand Budepest Hotel) and Jim Jarmusch (Coffee and Cigarettes) also influence us heavily. They add so much humour and quirkiness into the cinematography. Writers like Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind), Taylor Sheridan (Sicario) ... the list can go on. There are so many influences I would like to talk about, but it would go on forever. The Intentions of Shaun & Jay Perry / Steve Proposch
Tell us about your film – a brief history. SP: The inspiration for the film came from a combination of things. The first being that I had just finished reading The Great Gatsby and found F. Scott Fitzgerald’s exploration into the American dream and its consequences, mind blowing. Around that same time, we had just swan dived into the sweat inducing world of the 9 to 5 grind. Our parents had moved to the United Kingdom to live and so we were out in the real world, earning a wage, paying bills, paying rent, etc. I was working at the local cinema, and Jay was working at Woolworths. While it wasn’t your down and dirty blue collar jobs, we found with routine and repetition – selling tickets, scanning groceries, ripping stubs and discussing the weather – there was a monotony to it. It caused us to wonder what other jobs might be – no matter the circumstance, whether you are a skydiver, a garbageman or whatever – with routine and repetition, will it always stagnate over time? And so we developed a short script throwing the monotony into the hands of two hitmen. Over probably a good three or four months, twelve drafts, a few auditions, and a scatter of production meetings, it came time to actually make the movie. Unfortunately, neither of us had any money. We were broke, quite literally living the life of poor film students. I was driving a rusty old 1996 Toyota Corolla, complete with duct taped window, faulty battery, the whole thing (it just recently died, R.I.P), and so we had to raise the money. Three-thousand dollars, to be exact. We shot a crowd funding video and placed it on Pozible. Over the course of a month we were luckily able to raise the whole amount and so we are forever thankful to our supporters. Without them we wouldn’t have this film. What kind of reaction have you received to the film so far? JP: The film was finished and quickly flown overseas in August 2017, we had a bit of a deadline because a film festival in Vermont USA (Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival) was keen to see our next film. My own previous short film, Obsolete, screened there back in 2015 and ended up picking up an award for Best Short Film. They were also great with our new film and actually donated some money to our crowd funding campaign. Thankfully, they enjoyed the film and decided to screen it as part of their 2017 festival. Since then we’ve managed to secure official selection in 12 film festivals and we’ve actually won 3 awards which has been a great surprise. We won Best Director and Best Cinematography at the Los Angeles Independent Film
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Awards, and also Best Director at the European Cinematography Awards. It has also been a bit of a relief. The film had a production duration of close to 12 months (we shot over weekends), and when you spend so long on a film it’s hard not to become numb to the concept and to the humour. We haven’t had any negative feedback so far but everyone is different. Shaun and I both embrace constructive criticism, anything to sharpen and develop our writing. We’re also absolutely pumped we made selection at the St Kilda Film Festival. It’s a festival we’ve always hoped we would get into, and it’s the film’s premiere in Melbourne. So our friends and family can finally see the film on the big screen. What projects do you have planned for the future? JP: Shaun’s actually writing a feature film script. For the last few months he hasn’t left his place, I’m pretty sure he’s at over a hundred pages now. We’re both working on different concepts at the moment; we’re still maintaining similar tones to The Intentions of F. Scott Fitzgerald though. We thoroughly enjoy making comedies with a lasting message. St Kilda Film Festival - stkildafilmfestival.com.au Revelation Perth International Film Festival - revelationfilmfest.org Follow the film on Facebook - facebook.com/intentionsoffscottfitzgerald
Books Behind Bars Lisa D’Onofrio
“I always thought reading was for nerds, it was hard work, not for me, covered in tatts and thick. Now I know better. What’s next?” It’s a Friday afternoon, in a nondescript classroom that’s seen better days. The view from the wall to wall window is standard central Victorian - a small dam of dung coloured water, fringed by scraggly gums and couple of ducks - apart from the 3-metre fence, topped with razor wire, and a pair of patrolling officers. Eight men aged from their twenties to their fifties sit around the table, drinking instant coffee from paper cups. “This book was shit,” begins one, flashing me a ‘sorry, miss’ look. “You only got to page 45”, says another. “Well, I really liked it, I could relate to the bit where …” joins in a third. The conversation is robust but respectful, and meanders from reactions to the text, speculations about the author, to the men’s personal stories. I’ve run many similar groups and the power of discussion never ceases to startle me. Responses are rich and diverse, and we all come out “understanding the world and each other a little better” as one now released prisoner commented. The Book Group and other programs, initiated and administered by the Friends of Castlemaine Library and funded by various sources, began in a central Victorian prison in 2012, starting with Read Along Dads (RAD). With RAD, prisoners read aloud stories to their children. These stories are recorded and the book and recording sent to the child. This enterprise was an immediate success, with men from all backgrounds and literacy levels participating. Through being stuck in a small room with a man (often weeping) a pile of books and a digital recorder, other conversations were sparked, and I realised
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there was a desire and need for other literacy-based projects. Prisons run English Education programs, but the types of things which seemed necessary to address come under what I deem “social literacy.” I define social literacy as a culture beyond the nitty gritty of learning to read and write; it’s about communication and how that leads to connection, with yourself, family, community and the world. Creative writing classes began, followed by regular book group meetings and shared reading. Shared reading, inspired by the work of The Reader organisation in the UK, is for people of all abilities, who come together to share a story and a poem. Participation in one group often leads to another – one prisoner wrote: “Through book group and creative writing sessions I am given the opportunity and cause to discuss and gain deeper understandings and mindfulness on broad neutral topics that as a group we are forced to adapt our own individual discussions, adjusting to said piece of literature almost as a banner we are able to unite under, if only for the brief moment of deliberation of shared reading and further contemplation.” Doing this work for over 25 years, I know it’s not very often that a book can instantly change a life, but it does open doors – and minds, if even just a crack. This can be illustrated by many of the men I’ve worked with, but one particular prisoner, *Michael springs to mind. Michael began RAD in mid-2016, as a way of re-connecting with his four daughters. He’d known about RAD for a year, but had declined to participate due to his perceived lack of reading and learning abilities, thinking it was too late for him to start anything new. After persevering with RAD, he realised that not only were his relationships with his children improving, he actually enjoyed choosing the books and reading them out loud. With encouragement from me, he joined the Book Group, and then Creative Writing classes. Before one class, I’d given him That Was Then, This is Now by SE Hinton, telling him that his teenage daughter might like him to read it to her for RAD, and it would be good if he could have a look through it before we did the recording the following week. A few days later, he burst into class, waving the book around and gushing: “This has fucken triggered me brain. From reading, I’m more awake. When
Books Behind Bars / Lisa D’Onofrio
ABOVE: Author S.E. Hinton as a teen, is shown shortly before The Outsiders was first published in 1967. COURTESY OF PENGUIN YOUNG READERS GROUP RIGHT: First hardcover edition, 1967.
I go to sleep, instead of thinking about telly or stewing over something that happened in the day, I’m fucking thinking about this book! … I woke up at 4 am and read it before let out – I got stuck into it then. It made me feel, you know, nothing bad, just feel … I only started reading when I came in here. It’s the third book I’ve ever read in my life – the first was Underbelly 10, and the second was Chopper. This was the third.” We continued the discussion, Michael’s mind being further blown by SE Hinton being female and relatively young when she wrote the book. Michael’s reading journey has continued with The Outsiders and he has concluded: “in them books, the characters read a fair bit, and the people who read are pretty smart. I always thought reading was for nerds, it was hard work, not for me, covered in tatts and thick. Now I know better. What’s next?” *Not his real name. This article originally appeared on the SBS website as What it’s Like Running a Book Club in Prison
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1. Jörg SCHMEISSER, Looking back 1984, etching. Collection of Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James Acquired 1988 © Jörg Schmeisser Estate. Jörg Schmeisser—looking back, prints from the collection of Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James, Geelong Art Gallery, Little Malop Street Geelong (VIC), until 27 May 2018 - geelonggallery.org.au 2. Samuel CALVERT (1828-1913), engraver; Robert BRUCE (1839-1918), artist. Bank Window - Saturday Night (detail). Wood engraving. Published in The illustrated Australian news for home readers, July 15, 1871 Melbourne: Ebenezer and David Syme. Source: State Library Victoria. Bankrolling Bendigo: building a city, Bendigo Art Gallery, 42 View Street, Bendigo (VIC), 11 May – 7 October 2018 - bendigoartgallery.com.au 3. Rachael DEASE, Like Embracing Ice (Ytre Norskøya Votive #11) (detail), 2017. Photography by Rachael Dease. Rachael Dease: Like Embracing Ice, Fremantle Arts Centre, 1 Finnerty Street, Fremantle (WA), 26 May – 15 July 2018 fac.org.au 4. Robert ANDREW, Country, Ground, Earth, Sand, Time and Space 2017, soil, aluminium, string and electromechanicals, 400 cm by 180 cm by 180 cm. & 5. Katie BRECKON, Worrorra Stone Tool, Vic Cox Collection 2017, Aluminium plate monoprint on 350gsm Hahnemühle paper, 106 cm by 78 cm. Robert Andrew & Katie Breckon, Fox Galleries, 79 Langridge Street, Collingwood (VIC) 17 May – 16 June 2018 - foxgalleries.com.au 6. Semiconductor (UK artists Ruth JARMAN & Joe GERHARDT), Black Rain installation view at Earth: Art of a Changing World, Royal Academy, London, 2010. Image courtesy of Francis Ware Royal Academy of Arts. Semiconductor, Fremantle Arts Centre, 1 Finnerty Street, Fremantle (WA), 26 May – 15 July 2018 - fac.org.au 7. Hayley MILLAR-BAKER, Untitled (3%) (detail), 2017, inkjet print on cotton rag, 65 x 65cm. Courtesy of the artist and Vivien Anderson Gallery. Now and Now, Manningham Art Gallery, Manningham City Square (MC²), 687 Doncaster Road, Doncaster (VIC), 23 May – 30 June 2018 - manningham.vic.gov.au/gallery 6. Caspar FAIRHALL, Iceberg, 2017, oil on Belgian linen, 203 x 203cm each. Caspar Fairhall: Nine times the space that measures day and night, Fremantle Arts Centre, 1 Finnerty Street, Fremantle (WA), 26 May – 15 July 2018 fac.org.au 8. Megan KEATING, Samuel JOHNSTONE, Matthew BODEN, The Agent 1 2017, animation mock up, dimensions variable. The Agent, ANCA Gallery, 1 Rosevear Place Dickson (ACT), 2 – 21 May 2018 - anca.net.au 8
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FINDING THE ART IN
Phuket The Art of Letting it Go by Anthony S. Cameron
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I might as well come clean right from the start. Prepare yourselves for the bold, unadulterated, glaringly bright, spill-coffee-all-over-yourshirt truth: I have been withholding, people. It hasn’t felt good, but it hasn’t felt that bad either, I have to confess. I have held off writing about one of the most famous events in Thailand, and a part of me was hoping to quietly withhold for another year at least, whilst you shrugged and theatrically turned your back on me, switched off your bedside light with a forlorn sigh whilst I pretended not to care at all. But the thing is, I do care, even though I pretend I don’t. Even though I feign intense interest in my book as you noisily go about the business of feeling rejected, inside I have been burning with the desire to fire a rush of adjectives at you before sleep takes a hold. Adjectives dripping with intent, adjectives soaked in the peculiar magic of Songkran day. My adjectives would have you booking a ticket to Phuket or Chiang Mai before I had even finished talking, before I even had time to consider how rude it was when people look at their phones when you are talking to them, especially when you are transporting them to a magical place with a few well-clustered syllables. Maybe now I should roll over and turn off my bedside light in disgust, and leave you to a bunch of empty pages loaded with that silence only married people know about. So, here we are, arrived kicking and screaming like the school bully having a bad day, at the Songkran piece. Welcome. For those tapping their noses or nodding through a smirk, having had the pleasure of a Songkran experience, or even those picking their noses distractedly and just killing time before they can go to lunch, please feel free to skip this next bit. The Songkran Festival, the traditional Thai New Year, is a time when family and friends gather to pay gratitude to elders and visit temples for prayer and offering. Songkran literally means ‘to move or to pass into’: transformation. What better way to greet this than by literally washing the old year away, into a waiting
Finding the Art in Phuket / Tony Cameron
stormwater drain not too badly choked by plastic? The time is characterised by feelings of goodwill, love, compassion and thankfulness, not to mention a lot of public drunkenness. Water, as it turns out, is the means of expression and the intention is to wash away the past year, and greet the new year soaked from head to toe wearing the happiest, if not slightly drunken, of grins. To the thousands that fly here from their own countries, Songkran is the biggest, most friendly water fight you will find anywhere on this earth. Songkran is your face smeared with flour and water making your clothes look like your older brother’s hand me downs. It is a million water guns, like the Supersoaker 5000, searching out your eyeballs or nostrils and firing icy blasts in your direction, in every direction. Songkran is Thai pop music with a heavy, liquid bassline pumping out of car speakers whilst prancing boys squirt water in the faces of dancing girls and hope to get close enough to smear some flour over their faces. Songkran is the famous Thai smile mutated into a hysterically happy grin and worn on all the faces you will see. Songkran is the fast eye contact of attraction, it is the corners of the mouth twisting upwards as a pickup truck full of drunken, smiling young men with their shirts off, grinning like Cheshire cats, rides past and soaks you yet again. It is in the feigned upset frown of a drenched young woman that turns into a momentary flash of desire, a flash so intense a man could live his life basking in its glow. Songkran is the sound of laughter and shrieks of delight permeating the sodden air around you, it is the infectious rhythm of sixty eight million people feeling free for a day. And it is probably the best fun you could ever have. The best Songkran is always your first one. Your lungs and jaw will be sore from laughing so much, your beer will miraculously disappear in a few gulps and your face will ache from constant grinning. There is a high chance you will have drained four beers before midday and will be looking for some Thai whisky to keep the vibe going. You will have lost your friends somewhere in the deluge and will have met some new ones. Language issues will have disappeared and you will be happily conversing via grunts and groans of pleasure, riding the mutual high. You will have stood there amazed at the thinly veiled, simmering sexual energy expressing itself through the conduit
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of water: buckets of it, handfuls of it, guns full of it as girls shriek and steal a quick glance, as guys high five each other and feign indifference. The dance goes on all day, exhausting itself eventually as a sodden sun slinks out of the sky and a night of bleary eyed euphoria awaits. It is on these days that, if you are lucky, a happy little insight or two will float by. You will try to get a hold of them but your hand will be wet and slippery. It’s okay, just let them go and wait for the next pick-up truck full of revellers to punctuate your crazy, bemused grin. In a culture that does not encourage demonstrative shows of affection, or public moments of intimacy, a culture that is actually pretty shy when it comes to all of that sort of stuff, this day stands out not only as a crucial pressure release, but as a day that could not be replicated in any other culture. If Songkran happened in Australia, it wouldn’t be long before the water play turned into an all-in brawl, or some misogynist prick decided to take the flirtatious stuff a little too far. Other foreigners I have spoken to concur that it would be near impossible for this to work in their culture either. Are we just too uptight, or not repressed enough? Who knows? As for me, I’ll leave that stuff to the culture-philes out there and get back to throwing water at people and laughing like there’s no tomorrow.
ANTHONY S. CAMERON is an Australian ex-pat living in Phuket, Thailand, and the author of two novels, Driftwood (2014) and Butterfly on Bangla (2015). His books are available on Amazon here. You can find his sculptural furniture on Facebook here.