When
11 Jul – 3 Oct
View online 24/7
Technocapitalism, climate grief and ancient history collide in Xanthe Dobbie's single-take desktop performance exploring the human urge to seek immortality.
There is a giant clock ringing deep inside a mountain in the belly of the Sierra Diablo Ranges – the land of the Devil... It is a huge clock, hundreds of feet tall, designed to tick for 10,000 years. The mountain in which the clock resides is privately owned by Jeff Bezos. Programmed never to chime the same melody twice, its anyone’s guess how many beautiful songs will never be heard over the clock’s 10 millennial lifespan.
The Long Now by artist Xanthe Dobbie, ponders the human urge to seek immortality. Set to an original score by composer Jorde Heys, this new experimental desktop performance collides technocapitalism against climate grief against ancient history, refracting these competing narratives through the technicolour lens of the internet.
Featuring original epic hero Gilgamesh and the disembodied deep fake voice of Alan Rickman, The Long Now collapses histories, illuminating ancient and contemporary myth-making practices.
About Xanthe Dobbie
Xanthe Dobbie is an Australian artist living and working on the unceded lands of the Widjabul/Wyabul people of the Bundjalung Nation in Northern NSW. Working across on- and offline modes of making, their expanded collage practice weaves together the old and the new to speak to potential futures, drawing on humour, pop, sex, queer theory, history and iconography, their works are shrines to a post-truth era. They have exhibited extensively locally and internationally with recent projects including experimental live-streamed theatre, interactive media, AR, VR, performance and installation.
In 2021, Xanthe developed new commissions for Sydney Opera House, Munch Museum, Bundoora Homestead and UQ Art Museum. In 2022, they worked on major projects for presentation at RISING Festival, The Museum of Contemporary Art, ACMI, The Lismore Regional Gallery and Grafton Regional Gallery. Xanthe is currently undertaking a PhD focusing on digital and interactive art at RMIT University.
Gallery 5
Explore art that reflects, celebrates and interrogates the internet and digital culture through a series of free virtual exhibitions and performances.