With apologies to Noel Coward.

It must be the season for art-macabre with Robert’s recent note on the exhibition in Japan, and now this - Neo Goth: Back in Black, an exhibition at the University of Queensland’s St Lucia Art Gallery.

While many think of dear old Queensland as the state of sunburn, surf and politicians with ‘interesting’ political views, I have always felt assured in that sunshine state in years past, by the sight of the young & beautiful darklings who assemble late afternoons in Queen Street Mall in Brisvegas.  I suppose it’s all Emo now….why, when I was a monochromatic lad, frock coats were all the rage, Big Electric Cat were the local heroes and…yawn….young whipper snappers……zzzzzzz.

Kirra Jamison May all your wishes come true 2007

Anyhoo.

Curator Alison Kubler (as in the Absinthe!) has assembled 170 works from 60 artists over two levels of the museum, covering the mediums of music, fashion, film and literature.

From the exhibition flyer:

“From its subcultural origins in eighteenth century literature, through to the movement’s dedicated tribes of black-clad youths in the 1980s, Goth culture is no longer underground or fringe, but mainstream. Is this ‘new’ interpretation of the Gothic aesthetic just that – an aesthetic – or is the neo-Goth impulse a considered response to a darker, more pessimistic world? The major exhibition neo goth dips beneath the surface and takes a peek at the noir underbelly of Australian culture as it is manifested across art, fashion, film and literature.”

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Review of “New Music To Fall Asleep To…(Lullabies by Justin Ashworth)”

When new members join the merry band of Absinthe.com.au subscribers, occasionally one observes that the email with which they have subscribed deserves further investigation. It is with no small amount of pleasure that I have discovered that we have a broad church of libertarians under our humble canopy, from visual artists, poets, magicians, distillers, dancers, authors, actors, courtesans, journalists, the odd dominatrix or two, and importantly, musicians.

One such Australian musician, and dedicated absintheur, that I would like to bring to your attention is Melbourne based Justin Ashworth.  I have for many years been a devotee of the dark ambient and experimental soundscape genre, and certainly Australia has had no shortage of exponents of this particular craft over the decades.  The opportunity then to explore new work by a local artist over a glass of absinthe or two is a welcome one indeed.

Being armed with droning loops, acoustic neo-folk attitudes and unpredictable acts of psychadelia, he is actually a hard artist to buttonhole through comparison. A good thing I say. You can hear a track or two from the following reviewed album on Justin’s MySpace page - maybe pour yourself a glass before you click through.

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Just a friendly reminder why it is neither good practice, nor good sense, to set fire to your absinthe. You may end up slightly crispier than when you first decided to impress your friends.

An oldie but a goodie, via Static. For more alcohol-related self-immolation hilarity, go here

Skull by Spencer Higgins, 2007

For those of our readers who find themselves in Yokohama in the near future… this may rock your coffin.

“The phenomenon described as goth / gothic exists in various cultural fields including music, fashion, movies and literatures. It originally referred to a style of art in Europe in the Middle Ages, however, today it functions as a term indicative of a certain lifestyle. Body modifications, such as tattooing or piercing, and a focus upon death and illness are not merely a matter of taste, but instead are an expression of the self trying to stand up against a conservative world…”

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Lost Metropolis Footage Recovered

(Story at News.com.au)

Film historians had doubted they would ever find the missing portions of Metropolis — until three reels of the science fiction film made in Germany a long time ago, were discovered in a country far, far away.
Two film fans in Argentina uncovered the fragile footage in a small museum earlier this year – over eight decades after Fritz Lang’s dystopian classic first began to shed scenes.

With its cold, monumental vision of mechanised society, Metropolis forged a template for generations of science fiction cinema, and its enduring influence has been cited on films from Blade Runner to Fahrenheit 451 and Star Wars.

“We were overjoyed when we heard about the find,” said Helmut Possmann, head of the foundation which owns the rights to the film, the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung.

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