[spectre] MEDIA RELEASE: International movement started 1991 in Adelaide celebrates 25 years

[Diana McCarty]

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Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2016 23:00:07 +0000
From: Josephine Starrs <josephine.starrs at sydney.edu.au>
To: "faces-l at lists.servus.at" <faces-l at lists.servus.at>
Subject: [faces-l] FW: MEDIA RELEASE: International movement started
        1991 in Adelaide celebrates 25 years
Message-ID: <D3D1EF04.5670%josephine.starrs at sydney.edu.au>


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9 August 2016

INTERNET PIONEERS VNS MATRIX CELEBRATE 25 YEARS OF THEIR CYBERFEMINIST MANIFESTO

The computer art group VNS Matrix are acknowledged as internet
pioneers. The group of four artists formed in Adelaide in 1991 and
created ?A Cyberfeminist Manifesto for the 21st Century? with
cyberfeminism going on to become an international movement.

Before the world wide web, these visionary artists were creating
artworks that investigated the role and representation of women in
technology.

Influenced by cyberpunk, video games and French feminist theory, VNS
Matrix playfully imagined a virtual world populated by female cyborgs,
super heroines and malevolent multinational corporations.

Their first major commissioned work was a 6metre x 3metre billboard of
the ?Cyberfeminist Manifesto? that was mounted on the exterior of Tin
Sheds Gallery, City Road Sydney for a month during 1991. Before the
days of social media, this image was photographed and sent around the
world, while the manifesto was printed and distributed across
Australia and internationally. The manifesto was translated by fans of
VNS Matrix into Russian, Finnish, Japanese, German, Italian, Spanish
and Euskera (Basque).

The group created the large scale installation ALL NEW GEN that
included a computer game, light boxes, sound works, video and
performance. The game and exhibition ALL NEW GEN has been shown in
Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Darwin, Helsinki, Linz, Bilbao,
Cannes, Amsterdam, St Petersburg, New York, Chicago and Minneapolis.

The work of VNS Matrix is now taught in universities and is still
exhibited around the world and published in journals and textbooks.
Two members of the group, FRANCESCA DA RIMINI and JULIANNE PIERCE, are
based in Adelaide with VIRGINIA BARRATT based in northern NSW and
JOSEPHINE STARRS in Sydney,

VNS Matrix are re-forming for a one-off performance of ?A Tender Hex
for the Anthropocene' at the ?Femflix? exhibition, 6.30pm Wednesday
10th August at Sydney College of the Arts. A compilation of VNS Matrix
video and sound work is included in the exhibition that runs until 3rd
September.

?Femflix? captures the unique voices of 90s feminist screen culture
and is curated by Jacqueline Milner, Jane Schneider and Deborah
Szapiro.

For further details contact Julianne Pierce
julianne at internode.on.net<mailto:julianne at internode.on.net>
mob: 0419 260 390


FEMLIX
Exhibition Hours
Thursday 11 August ? Saturday 3 September
Monday ? Friday 11am-5pm
Saturdays 11am-4pm

Where<http://theuniversityofsydneysydneycollegeofthearts.createsend1.com/t/j-l-kiiujid-l-yd/>
SCA Galleries
Sydney College of the Arts
The University of Sydney
Kirkbride Way, off Park Drive,
Lilyfield, NSW (enter opposite Cecily Street)