bilateral kellerberrin

In my ongoing (self-appointed) capacity as high-speed conduit for late-breaking news from Kellerberrin, I have a very exciting announcement to make.

Jag the Joker has been won.

Those of you who followed Bilateral Kellerberrin would be familiar with my forays to the pub each Friday night to try and win the big bucks from the Jolly Publican, Brendan. (For these tales, try searching for the word “Joker” in the search bar to the right). Alas, a bellyfull of beer and an empty wallet was the closest I got.

But Roger Scott, native of Kellerberrin and now residing in Sydney, just sent me a text message. I assume the information leaked through to him care of his mother, Pauline.

Here it is:

“Pip and Mark won the joker $5400!”

to which I replied: “you mean Pip and Dawn? Who is Mark?”

and his reply: “Thats who I meant Pip and Mark are another couple in town its so confusing when everyone has the same name”

So there you have it. If there are any Kellerberrins still out there reading this blog, please update me all the goss in the comments below! I want to know the whole story. Did they shout a round for the whole pub? Was there a party all night? Did they deserve the cash? What are they going to do with it now (assuming there is any left)?

This quite long question/response came through from Louise Curham, my collaborator on the Line Describing a Cone tour. She came to Kellerberrin a few days before the opening of the exhibition, and the idea was to present the Cone at the old Kellerberrin cinema, which is owned by Domenico de Clario, and called The Aurora Project. Unfortunately, our vintage xenon arc projector packed it in ten minutes before we were due to screen the Cone. As you may understand, this was quite upsetting for Louise and I. The Aurora Project is such a beautiful space, it really was the one site which got us thinking about showing Anthony McCall‘s work in Australia in the first place. So to not be able to show it there was a real disappointment. However, the night was still an “event” – farmers rushing around, pulling the machine apart to get to the bottom of the problem, locals dashing off for fuses from the service station, the old cinema projectionist being pulled away from his TV to rummage for spare parts in his back shed. Local girls offering to do a gymnastics display to keep the crowd entertained while they wait for the tech problems to be solved. All of this taking place in a misty cavern. And of course, accompanying the whole night, Anne Walton’s in/e/gress mounted in the doorway of the cinema, and Louise’s super8 films beaming in the front rooms.

In the end, the projector could not be saved. Instead, we presented a few different “versions” of Line Describing a Cone. We had Alice and Vicki visiting from the UK – they had experienced the Cone in London, and so were able to “describe” what that experience was like. Also, while the repair efforts were being made, they had assembled a quick scratch film on super8, in an attempt to simulate the work. Louise also tried out holding the circular film cannister in front of the projector beam. The audience was very good natured, and got into the spirit of the thing, jumping in and out of the unruly spray of light the super8 machine threw out. Finally, we packed up and all went back to the gallery for dinner. Louise and I had a bit of a cry. (The rest of the tour went swimmingly, if not effortlessly!) And so, onto Louise’s comments and questions: (more…)