Tales from futures past: the lessons of Lemmy Caution

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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/197307

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Title: Tales from futures past: the lessons of Lemmy Caution
Author(s): Tofts, Darren
Abstract: The intergalactic traveller of Jean Luc Godard's 1965 sci-fi noir thriller Alphaville may seem an unlikely figure in the history of video art. While the title of this exhibition has its origins in nineteenth century speculative science, Lemmy Caution is its atavistic guide. A traveller in time and space, he represents that which is at a distance, from afar, a stranger in a strange land. Between smokes and dishing out rough justice he can tell you all you need to know about advanced technology, computers, urban screens and artificial vision---themes that are central to Seeing to a Distance. Single Channel Video Work from Australia. Like Caution, Australia for many years was defined as the antipodes, a remote other perpetually out of sight. Long before the Internet and the idea of a networked, global culture, Australia's relations to the rest of the world had been technologically mediated. It was the outer limits, always experienced at a distance.
Publication type: Catalogue essay
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Life and Social Sciences
Source: Paper appeared in the catalogue for 'Seeing to a distance: single channel video from Australia', Level 17 Artspace, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 02-26 August 2011 / curated by Amanda Morgan,
Publication year: 2011
Keyword(s): Art exhibitions; Contemporary media; High definition video; Lemmy Caution; Video art
Publisher: Level 17 Artspace
Publisher URL: http://seeingtoadistance.com/essays/
Publisher URL: http://creativeindustries.vu.edu.au/level17.html
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