Montages: The Full Cut, 1999-2015

Montages: The Full Cut gathers artist Tracey Moffatt and editor Gary Hillberg’s eight collaborative films, created between 1999 and 2015. Running between 10 and 20 minutes each, Moffatt and Hillberg present a series of montages of cinematic representations of topics such as violence against women, blackness and indigeneity, and artists’ work.

An overarching interest in the moment of change shines through in their collaborations. Revolution (2008) begins with a supercut of the crownings and assassinations of leaders, before turning to scenes of political instability. People pick through ruins, the elite are exiled, and, finally, Moffatt and Hillberg show us the birth of an heir. What ever changes?

Many of the pieces presented here share this narrative structure. Moffatt and Hillberg’s interest in the representation and reconstitution of the social world in cinema undergirds their collaboration, but what animates it is a waxing and waning social optimism. Some pieces, like Revolution and 2010’s Other, seem to offer no way out, but then others do: Love (2003), a montage of violence against women in cinema, builds to a violent, retributive crescendo of women shooting, usually men, but sometimes off-screen. Cut to a man clapping his hands over ears, as if to say “no more!”. Cut to the opening scene of Grease: Sandy asks “Danny, is this the end?”, and he replies, “Of course not. It’s only the beginning.” (ZS)

Jun 23–Aug 10; Mon–fri 11am-5pm, Sat–Sun 11am-6pm. Artspace, 43-51 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo. Info: artspace.org.au

BY ZEIYA SPEEDE