6th & Beyond The Spectrum
June 14th - July 23rd, 2019
Beaumaris Zoo & Royal Botanical Gardens, Hobart, Tasmania
For Dark MOFO Oursler has produced a site specific sound and light intervention in the Beaumaris Zoo. The artist takes a darkly humorous approach to the erosion of critical thought, rise of fake news, conspiracy theories, superstitions, and all forms of magical thinking while asking the question: Is truth on the verge of extinction? The cage which was the home of the last living Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, becomes the site of a digital de-extinction of the legendary beast via sweeping projections, music and light. The tiger has become a multivalent ecological provocateur; the trauma surrounding its demise has provoked mysterious sitings as well as a de-extinction movement on its behalf. For this project the current position of the Thylacine is a barometer for beliefs and possibilities, a sort of new chimera occupying and activating our consciousness on the verge of a new age. A cast of projected characters haunt the park, interacting with Neo-mythological memes; intersecting scientific thought and colliding with the technology of gene splicing. We live in a utopian digital Age, offering instant access to an endless flow of information, yet our reaction to this digital glut has challenged our notions of reality as we lose trust in corporate media. Now social media sets free the blob monster, maritime spirits and the lonely Thylacine which could possibly roam the woods again. Rationalism is challenged by the following statistics: 50% of the population has seen ghosts; 60% has seen UFOs; 45% believe in some variation of mind reading; and 1 in 3 does not believe in the theory of evolution. The way we use our digital powers to create new narrative templates for living is at issue in this work. The audience is asked to take their position on the paranormal index as well as in the Evolutionary process.