Unidentified Flying Data / Fanservice

By Andrew Frost

Two of Firstdraft’s latest group of new shows are linked by ideas around the materialisation of belief, superstition and popular culture. Jacqueline Drinkall’s Unidentified Flying Data is the latest iteration of her long running Weatherman UFOlogy project that includes as its central work a giant – some might say life size – plastic and timber flying saucer. The result of an eight-year build, the saucer is an imposing but transparent object and for her exhibition Drinkall projects onto its surface data collected from an EEG neuroheadset, a process the artist calls “data storming and mind mapping”. In contrast to the large-scale installation, the artist also presents miniature oil paintings derived from an array of sources.

Like Drinkall’s fascination with the complex system of interrelated beliefs that give rise to the manifestation of something that is knowable but paradoxically remains unidentified, Daniel Green’s video Fanservice takes its title from the practice of pop cultural makers in film, games and TV shows, who create objects, ideas or specific references that serve no purpose beyond pleasing their audience.  Using anime classic Neon Genesis Evangelion as a reference point, Green conflates family history with the menace of cicadas.  As to whether anything actually bad occurs in the work is pretty much up to the audience.

Until November 23

Firstdraft Gallery, Surry Hills

Pic: Jacqueline Drinkall, Unidentified Flying Data, 2013.