In Flashbacks, his recent two-part exhibition at the Brisbane City Hall and Metro Arts, the energetic Chris Howlett attempted to portray the zeitgeist of our manipulated digital social reality and the ambiguous social identities it engenders. The subtext in this ambitious exercise was an exploration of the impact of this world on art, especially in its current post-avant-garde phase. To these ends Howlett produced around a dozen video installations and projections that screened interactive game modes, sound works, Sims scenarios and other digital goodies.
Today’s generation of artists has been struggling to sustain a radical cultural practice (and its attendant moral authority) during a period in which the scene was largely sold out to neo-liberal and corporate agendas in the stock market boom era. One way to remain radical is suggested by artists like Cory Arcangel and Olaf Breuning who ‘constructively abuse’ new technologies, and Flashbacks plays a similar tune. This was especially so when Howlett dealt with Sims material. Sims programs allow consumers to set up second life scenarios in simulational worlds with their own avatars, families, and even entire suburbs if that is your thing. One can also hack into these programs—a process known as ‘modding’—and alter the programs to generate new adventures not envisaged by the original designers.
Howlett uses modding as a form of cultural resistance and ‘mods’ to explore controversial political and sexual issues that have provoked diametrically opposed moral reactions. In Michael Jackson 4 Ways (2009) he produced Jackson clones that performed various actions like pulling weights, sleeping, having a bath, or arguing. ‘Jacko the Wacko’ is perfect for this stratagem as he was known to have modded his own face many times, but