Live

Rip It Up, Issue 100, 1 November 1985, Page 20

Live

A.R.T.E.M.I.S. (Axmin Real Time Electric Music Image Show A Celebration of the New Moon) Robert McDougall Gallery, September 15

This was the second multimedia event in Christchurch within the month phewie, it's spring fever time down South! Earlier in

the month the Lines Of Thought performance at the Free Theatre had been inspiring the Goodnight Kiwi would never be the same, and the event had shown how successful the mixing of theatre, slides, lightshows, music and sculpture could be.

Now for the Axmin and friends. I had gone intending to pop in to see what was going on and then slink off home to watch RWP. Instead I stayed for two hours and had great difficulty leaving 'cos it was so good.

The Axmin created a big sound in the gallery foyer something it had probably never heard resounding around in it since it was built. I found the sound level good and I sat back, relaxed and enjoyed watching the slide show and grooving to the big beat held down by Stu Kawowski (who looked a bit like Captain Trips as the lights reflected off his round glasses). Above him, slides appeared for the right amount of time to implant on your consciousness scenes from everyday life as an Axmin in New Zealand or as a tourist in America (Stu is a very good photographer I think to myself). Unfortunately I missed the Axmin Super-8 film on How To Screenprint but I caught the films of Lisa and Lawrence Lens; Lisa's scratch 'n' paint Super-8 was great and Lawrence's "Rock-Doc'' on ChCh bands the Connoisseurs, Scorched Earth Policy and the McGoohans was both visually great and amusing. Steve

McCabe's starring role in the film How To Brew Coffee Wine was also great, with a very funny scene of Steve sitting stripped to the waist with Xmas tinsel wrapped around him, chain smoking and slugging back the evil brew.

An added bonus Lawrence's spontaneous lightshow. I think he was trying to make another film (they never stop, this lot) and by moving lights he created a great lightshow in the foyer. What more can I say!? I left, walking past the dazed gallery supervisor, past the huge Alsation waiting for its owner and out down the alleyway into a starlit ChCh night and, gee, I felt inspired! Hamish Kilgour