Produced for the for the Arts Discovery Meet the Researcher video series at the University of Melbourne. The interview is based on my PhD research into the network aesthetics of “space dreaming” featuring David Bowie as a network cypher.

Production Role: Writer, Co-Producer, Interviewee and Supervising Editor.
Academic Role: Subject Coordinator & Curriculum Designer
https://arts.unimelb.edu.au/study-with-us/arts-discovery

Abstract

My PhD was finished in late 2014 and it has evolved into a much broader project called The Digital Gothic. A study that encompasses media ecologies, screen culture and network theory. Predominately a visual study, it looks at the aesthetics of techno-culture – historical touch points such as electrification, the Italian Futurists, World Fairs, the Cold War and September 11. The reading of those moments in terms of visual culture revealed an increasingly dark and dystopian world view, across a range of creative movements and cultural products.

In the terms of space dreaming component, David Bowie is culturally present in the mediated narratives of space dreaming going back to the Apollo program. He is of course very present i a coatemporary sense with regards to the launch of the SpaceX rocket carrying a Tesla Roadster with a space man behind the wheel “listening” to the car radio playing Bowie’s song Starman.

Further Reading

David Bowie's Space Oddity is 50 years old, but it still holds a cutting message - Mitch Goodwin (ABC News, July 11, 2019) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-11/david-bowies-space-oddity-50-years-old-moon-landing-anniversary/11297134
Dark Euphoria: Unclassified Media – Mitch Goodwin (PhD, Griffith University, 2014)
https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/items/cc8ddba8-aaa9-5ec9-a1e6-9f6570da7835
In this Age of Grand Allusion - Bowie, Nihilism and Meaning – Richard Fitch (2015)
in Devereux, E., Dillane, A., & Power, M. (Eds.). David Bowie : Critical Perspectives
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/unimelb/detail.action?docID=2001978
Space Oddity at Half-Century - Chris O’Leary (Pushing Ahead of the Dame, 2019)
https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/?s=Space+Oddity
Apollo 8: Earthrise (NASA, 2013)
https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1249.html
The Uncomfortable Truths of American Spaceflight – Marina Koren (The Atlantic, 2021)
https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/620668/

Further Viewing

Space Oddity – David Bowie (Music clip, Mick Rock version, 1972) https://youtu.be/iYYRH4apXDo
David Bowie speaks to Jeremy Paxman (BBC Newsnight, 1999) https://youtu.be/FiK7s_0tGsg
Ashes to Ashes – Davide Bowie (Music clip, 1980)
https://youtu.be/HyMm4rJemtI
Hallo Spaceboy – Davide Bowie (Music clip, 1995)
https://youtu.be/91efm5G8OVk
Blackstar – Davide Bowie (Music clip, 2015)
https://youtu.be/kszLwBaC4Sw