Melbourne

Spending my last moments in Melbourne at an internet cafe - it's strange to be typing emails when you can hear the sound of gunfire and explosions in the background. Kids play online mpg's swearing at each other viciously as their avatars fall victim to a barrage of bullets from an AK-47 or at other times a single sniper shot; a recurring electronic riff plays continuously as the kids laugh and enjoy the carnage they create.

In real life the cafe is a cavernous dark hall filled with glowing monitors and 16 neon lights - there is one visible security camera and green exit signs at either side.

Surveillance (Revival), detail

Melbourne show

... at the Red Gallery in North Fitzroy - (look for the small howling wolf... or the big red sign)

The End Begins (2008)

Riding the bus home, I look out the window and see a man burst into flames. As I shield my eyes from the light, I can almost feel the heat penetrate right through the glass…

People walk by without pausing, not even a sideways glance - grey-looking business men in battered suits; kids dissolving in their Chucks and drowning in striped shirts – only a dog straining against its leash shows any action (the dog is angry not terrified).

I look to my fellow passengers, they sit idle, unmoved. I am certain that by now the burning man would be screaming – but there is silence.
I have to get off the bus – get away from the light –the heat –that fucking silence.


A drink. A drink is what I need, I enter into what used to be a corner store (now it’s a slick 24/7 something or other) – I head straight to the fridge and scull a can of cola…

…cooling down I amble to the counter… $3.20 a forgotten man grunts without ever looking at me. Fair enough I consider - maybe bringing an empty can to the counter might be kinda rude... As I search for loose change, I notice a set of monitors just behind the man; grey, monochrome surveillance screens, each focused on different sections of the store and the city streets.

A few of the screens present blurry images of grocery aisles, hamburger shelves; another depicts a door bearing a poster where pandas spit out blue speech bubble catch phrases like – ‘More than just sightseeing, our China Tours are Authentic Journeys.’; it’s the last screen that gets me though, where from a slightly raised perspective – I view tiny grey men navigating their way through the city, around a silent man slowly burning to the ground.