Every time I travel south on the M1 back towards my home of the Gold Coast, I cannot help but notice the billboard which proclaims ‘Sin City’ in bright pink letters. Complete with a tanned and busty waitress, this sign advertises the pulsating night life of the Gold Coast’s party capital, Surfers Paradise. It is a place where boys chase girls under vibrant neon lights and clubs blast R&B from subwoofers the size of your car. When day breaks, surfers hit the beach. By sundown, the high rises create great blocks of shadow upon the shore and the neon lights start to ignite once again. Such a description of the Gold Coast is a typical account of this dynamic city. The Gold Coast has received its fair share of labels and stereotypes for its time, ranging from ‘tacky’, ‘tasteless’, ‘uncultured’ and a ‘holiday town’ where ‘…the only real currencies [are] alcohol, sex and suntan oil.’1 Yet the question remains—is the Sin City billboard an accurate representation of the Gold Coast today? I believe that the answer can be discovered with the work of Brisbane based, Gold Coast born artist Scott Redford. From a young age, Redford was fascinated with the surf culture and architecture of the city of his youth. Ruminating on the Gold Coast, Redford expounds: I think what is important about the Gold Coast is that it is based on the international model for resort cities: Miami, LA and Rio. It is a copy culture but one which is paradoxically both truly international and very local at the same time.2 If one investigates the Gold Coast as deeply as Redford has, there is sufficient evidence to support his... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline
Scott Redford, Dead board 1 (Production still), 1996. Video transfer onto single channel DVD: 55 seconds, colour, sound. Courtesy the artist.
