University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016 University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2015 The earth and the elements: multi-screen documentary and how the cinema migrates Georgia Wallace-Crabbe University of Wollongong Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses University of Wollongong Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author. 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For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] THE EARTH AND THE ELEMENTS: MULTI-SCREEN DOCUMENTARY AND HOW THE CINEMA MIGRATES A thesis submitted in (partial) fulfilment of the requirements of the degree DOCTORATE OF CREATIVE ARTS from UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG by Georgia Wallace-Crabbe School of The Arts, English and Media Faculty of Law, Humanities and Arts Supervisors Dr. Susan Ballard, Dr. Jo Law 2015 2 Acknowledgements Supervisor: Dr. Susan Ballard Editing and proof reading: Helen Armstrong and Prof. Chris Wallace-Crabbe Additional proof reading: Chryssy Tintner Special Thanks: Yashian Schauble, Australia China Art Foundation, Kate Wilson and Gary Ansell, Juluwarlu Corporation Michael Woodley and Tootsie Daniels, Yindjibarndi Corporation, Loreen Samson, Roebourne Artists Assoc. (RAG), Dr. Susan Ballard, Dr. Jo Law, Assoc. Professor Brogan Bunt; School of the Arts, English and Media, Faculty of Law, Humanities and The Arts (UOW) Total Environment Centre (Ruth Hessey), Greenpeace Australia (Jane Castle & Abe Powell), Assoc. Prof. Karyn Lai, Lecturer, Philosophy, UNSW Prof. Xing Ruan, Director of Architecture Discipline, UNSW Faculty Built Environment Mariagrazia Contantino, OCAT Art Terminal Shanghai Nell Schofield, Gregory Miller, Greta Miller, David Corbet The research for this project was supported by an APA from the University of Wollongong. Travel research funding provided by the School of the Arts, English and Media and accommodation in China provided by Australia China Art Foundation. 3 Abstract This research explores responses to global ecological issues via an intercultural and multi-screen approach that focuses on the resources exchange between China and Australia. The project reflects on the proposition that Australia and China are equally implicated in climate change. Drawing on case studies of the work of Bill Viola, Isaac Julian and Yang Fudong, the project begins from a critical enquiry into intercultural documentary and experimental cinema. It proposes the “intercultural” as a key mode through which artists might approach the parallel aesthetic histories found in the treatment of nature and landscape—in both Australian and Chinese contexts. The final chapter examines the history of ecological art making in Australia, locating this practice within the boundaries of ecological thought and documentary film. In the creative component of this project, Daoism provides a framework for a multi-screen installation by offering working metaphors for environmental and cultural interconnectedness. In the creative work, five channels of video explore the movement of coal and mineral ores across the two continents through the elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. The “stories” told through these elemental perspectives concern environmental impacts, with particular emphasis on climate change and Australia’s fragile landscape. The architecture of this five-channel installation works in parallel with the non-linearity of the video. This creates a space that contemplates ecological issues in relation to globalisation and the resources relationship between China and Australia. 4 CERTIFICATION I, Georgia Wallace-Crabbe, declare that this thesis, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Creative Arts, in the School of the Arts, English and Media of the Faculty of Law, Humanities and The Arts, University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. (Signature) Georgia Wallace-Crabbe Date 5 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 3 Abstract .................................................................................................................................... 4 List of Illustrations Page No. ................................................................................ 7 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 9 Chapter One: The Cinema and Documentary Migrates: 100 years of nonlinear film history and what is Expanded Documentary? .............................................................. 24 A Personal History of Filmmaking ............................................................................................ 24 The Shifting Ground of Intercultural Documentary ............................................................. 31 Chinese Documentary and Video Art ........................................................................................ 35 Chapter Two: Multi-screen or “Post Expanded” Cinema ......................................... 40 Expanded Cinema ............................................................................................................................ 42 Bill Viola ............................................................................................................................................. 49 Isaac Julien ......................................................................................................................................... 54 Yang Fudong ..................................................................................................................................... 63 Chapter Three: Parallel Histories of Nature—Daoism and Eastern Concepts of Interconnectedness. ............................................................................................................. 73 Daoism ................................................................................................................................................. 78 Parallel Histories .............................................................................................................................. 81 Australia’s Parallel Histories ........................................................................................................ 85 The Monumental Sublime ............................................................................................................. 87 The Influence of Eastern Thought on the West ...................................................................... 90 Chapter Four: Intercultural Aesthetics; The Modern Sublime in Chinese Representations Of Nature In Visual Art And Film. ................................................... 92 Chinese Aesthetics ........................................................................................................................... 93 Intercultural Aesthetics and Modernity vs. “Contemporaneity” ...................................... 97 Contemporary Chinese Video/ Art ............................... Error! Bookmark not defined. European Aesthetics and the Sublime .................................................................................... 102 Contemporary Romanticism ...................................................................................................... 106 The Trans-Local ............................................................................................................................. 109 Post Colonialism and Southern Theory ................................................................................. 110 Chapter Five: Ecological understandings of Aesthetics (or Eco–aesthetics) in the context of the creative work; structured as the Five Elements: Wood (木 Mu), Fire (火 Hue), Earth (土 Tu), Metal (金 Jin), and Water (水 Shui). ............................. 113 Australian Environmental Art ..................................................................................................