Melbourne And Other Myths
The Sunday Age
Sunday March 9, 2008
City Museum at Old Treasury, corner Collins and Spring sts, city. Tel: 9651 2233. Until May 25, Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat-Sun 10am-4pm. citymuseummelbourne.org
Since someone realised that history was an unreliable narrator, it's become more interesting than fiction. In Melbourne and Other Myths, Martyn Pedler presents some juicy Melbourne micro-histories, surrounded by supporting evidence. So is it art or history? Well, it's in a museum, so you decide. The three found sources are a cassette with an interview cutting in over a recording of Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell by Iggy and the Stooges; photocopies of an academic article about how people ruin everything; and a handwritten booklet outlining the theory that when Houdini dived into the Yarra in 1910, he infected the water supply. TAPE Projects video artists and photographers Tamara Watt, Justin Ridler and Saskia Pandji Sakti respond to the evidence. It's a dramatisation of real events; resonance with your own life is purely coincidental.
© 2008 The Sunday Age
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