Curiouser and Curiouser Affection?

On May 19th I attended a talk at GOMA called 'Shelley's Legacy', which followed on from a lecture by Moria Gatens that I also attended earlier that same day.

Moria Gatens at GOMA May 19th, 2018

Why does the monster have green "alien"
 eyes on the cover of this book?

Patricia Piccinini looking up to the monster
on a lot of screens right now

Patricia Piccinini delivering her
 speech on the day at GOMA

Should that be the welcomed or
unwelcome guest on the screen? 

Patricia told us that this was her
favourite piece in the CA exhibit

I thoroughly enjoyed the lectures and the conscious reasons behind Patricia's works as told by Patricia herself about being inspired from reading Shelly's 'Frankenstein' one night in Italy 27 years ago, because that was the only book that she could find that was worth reading in English. 
And let's not forget that the story of 'Frankenstein' came to Shelly in a nightmare that she had.
Or from the unconscious part of her memory while "sleeping".

I hadn't seen the exhibition before that day, and I didn't walk through it until after hearing the talks, but there was one thought I couldn't shake as I walked through the exhibition and that this exhibition would be very hard to take if I was one of those people who claim to have been abducted by aliens.

The first thing you see as you walk into the 'Curious Affection' exhibition is a girl staring blankly into space with an owl perched behind her.
As you may know if you read stories about alien abductions, an owl is often seen as a screen memory for an alien encounter.

I couldn't help thinking of the bird scene out of the movie 'Paul' here, as I wondered if this was the moment just before this kid shoves the bird in his mouth and tries to eat it.

Is it just my imagination or is there alien abduction type scenarios on view here?

Oddly enough Disney's stage musical 'Aladdin' was playing just a short walk from GOMA, too.

My 'The Higherside Chat'
t-shirt I bought from GC

The 'Aladdin' flags outside of
QPAC Brisbane, Australia

It's actually a pretty good show, as well, as I saw it a few days after my GOMA visit.

I was even seeing an owl face in this creature's butt.

Are the butts what they seem?-)

Where's a screen memory when you really want one?

This sculpture above reminds me of a scene out of the movie 'The Holy Mountain'.

Hang loose?

I need another screen memory please

Not a screen memory like this one either

Hmm ... could this be some kind of M*A*S*H up?-)

What I did notice in the 'Curious Affection' exhibition was the animals used that accompany a lot of the artificially genetically modified pieces are not themselves artificially genetically modified animals, but more like shamanic representations of those animals I felt.
But maybe that's just my projection, as if you have read through my blog, you'll know how much I just love shamanic themes.

This wedged tailed eagle for instance seems to be the highest point of the exhibit overlooking all that is below it.
Once you make it up to this highest point of the exhibit you get a real good bird's eye view of most of the exhibits that you have walked past to get here, but not all of them. 

One of the many photos outside
of the Queensland Museum 

Oddly enough, on my way back to my car I saw this picture outside the Queensland Museum of a wedge-tailed eagle in flight.
It reminded me of my old mate Russell Morris and his song about the eagle.
Just What is "The Real Thing" Anyway?

Not to mention the other more famous trippy 'Steve Miller Band' song about an eagle.

An eagle eye view standing next to the
wedge-tailed eagle sculpture

The final part of the exhibition is set in a very eerie and ancient landscape (pretty much the hinterland to the Byron Bay area to me) almost with a 'Jurassic Park' quality to it.

A dinosaur from the Queensland Museum would be right at home here.

That mountain above for instance looks very much like the ancient volcanic plug known as Mt. Warning/Wollumbin that I have written about a few times on my blog before like here -
Does Synchromysticism Sound 'Mental' to You?
See if you can spot Mt. Warning/Wollumbin in the 'Coldplay' song below.

The director of the clip didn't even know he had used the mountain in the 'Coldplay' video, as he had used stock footage of some old David Attenborough nature films he told me.

Life is just one big "mash up" it seems.

Mt. Warning/Wollumbin in the opening
shot of the movie 'Mental'

I couldn't help thinking that the motorcycle helmets were more or less space helmets where the unfortunate genetic experiments couldn't breathe the earth's atmosphere by themselves.
I guess when a theme grabs me (or an alien:-) I can't let go.

The numbers on the numberplate add
up to 27, too ... trust me

I snapped a shot of the New South Wales numberplate (Z63639) on the campervan and found it interesting that the numbers added up to 27, as that is a big number in Stephen King's 'IT' books and movies, plus Patricia said in the talk about Shelley's 'Frankenstein' that it was 27 years ago that she read the book.

27 is KING in the Loser's Club?

Patricia Piccinini far right
(this is photo #27 on my camera by the way)

The Brisbane city skyline as seen through
the GOMA glass windows

After I came out of the exhibition, I bought a 'Skywhale' keyring in the GOMA shop as a souvenir of my visit, and I also bought a GOMA membership for a year and received the secret handshake of the GOMA entered apprentice degree:-)
Well, I did buy a membership anyway, as I quite like this place, having seen David Lynch's art here a few years back -

Skye Whales Synchronicities and Catching the Big Fish

The Skywhale was a hot air balloon designed by Patricia for the hot air balloon event that takes place every year in Australia's capital city Canberra.

 Part of the 'Curious Affection' exhibition

Patricia said that the big orange balloon in the 'Curious Affection' exhibition was an inspiration from looking up into the inside of the 'Skywhale' balloon she designed.

There is an empty grey (Grays?!) room you enter that has a clear ceiling so you can look up inside the ... belly of a whale?

Why do I feel like Jonah right now?-) 

Although I couldn't help having flashbacks in my mind to looking into the spaceship from 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'.
Ah ... those nostalgic childhood screen memories of mine:-)

Man, now that road on the CEot3K poster reminds me of the road in David Lynch's 'Lost Highway'.

I've got to stop watching movies and TV shows, I think.

Aces and eights ... 1818 the
Deadman's poker hand?!

"Touched" by the Deadman's Hand?

"Touch" the Deadman's Hand Coincidence

But I will be reading a copy of Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' now after listening to all of the lectures on my day out at GOMA.
That is one book I never thought I would be reading.

The local press has given Patricia's show mixed reviews, but I have to say that I'm a fan of the exhibition and most of her work.

Patricia is a very lovely person and a kindred soul who I'm sure I would have wonderful dinner conversations with, as I get the feeling that she is a bit of a sync-head, as well. 
I never thought I would be looking forward to reading Shelley's nightmare of a novel, but I'm getting curiouser and curiouser about just what Shelley got from her nightmare over 200 years ago.