SCREEN CIRCUITS
“Netploitation cinema” assemblages for M/C Journal’s special issue on the Nineties
“The seeds had been sown: fear, paranoia and self-loathing were out of the box. We’d seen the rushes; the camera work was solid the performance convincing. Without 1995, 1999 would not have been possible and Neo would have most likely gobbed the wrong pill.”
Original essay published at M/C Journal
Image credit: Mitch Goodwin (2018) Smith Street Sprawl (circa 1995), from the Screen Circuits series, Melbourne Australia.
Image credit: Mitch Goodwin (2018) Portable Gibson, from the Screen Circuits series, Melbourne Australia.
Image credit: Mitch Goodwin (2018) The SQUID Doctor, from the Screen Circuits series, Melbourne Australia.
Image credit: Mitch Goodwin (2018) Johnny on Rae Street, from the Screen Circuits series, Melbourne Australia.
Image credit: Mitch Goodwin (2018) Thursday at the Gaso, from the Screen Circuits series, Melbourne Australia.
Image credit: Mitch Goodwin (2018) Strange Days in Fitzroy, from the Screen Circuits series, Melbourne Australia.
Image credit: Mitch Goodwin (2018) The Panda Matrix, from the Screen Circuits series, Melbourne Australia.
Image credits: Phottographic and mixed-media assemblages to accompany my feature essay for the M/C Journal’s special issue on the Nineties. A scrummage around in the circuitry and virtuality of the mid-nineties, particularly the speculative sci-fi film making of the period, which I have labelled “netploitation cinema”. It was when California techno-culture first gave VR a red-hot go and it was also the moment when the Internet - and the threat of networked information - first went viral. This series of media assemblages blend imagery lifted from Johnny Mnemonic (Long, 1995) and Strange Days (Bigelow, 1995) along with my street photography from Melbourne’s inner north.
Original essay published at M/C Journal