Culture

from Dr Jonathan W. Marshall’s Museum of Bad Taste
“Ceci n’est pas une artist”

 
In Merz and More Dr. Jonathan W. Marshall took us on a guided tour of a computer hard-drive and video and music collection. Presenting a selection of audiovisual and audio recordings through a plethora of technological devices, Marshall invited the audience into his museum of the radical and/or avant-garde, the historic, contemporary, local and international. Marshall’s knowledge of radical and/or avant-garde performance is vast and his collection of film-clips, records, CDs and other recordings is enviable.

Watching Merz and More was akin to walking through a nightmare; you weren’t exactly in a nightmare but you could observe it from the outside. The juxtaposition of images and sounds cutting, mixing, relating to and repelling each other evoked both the surrealism and the undeniable reality of the dream world. The images and sounds spoke to each other and this unrelenting montage found its own propellant, operating in a constant state of flux.

Intercut throughout the audio and visual playbacks were actions, ramblings and recitations from Marshall himself. In this sense Merz and More was very much a performance. Marshall made the conscious decision to operate the show from a space in front of a projection screen capable of housing two projections simultaneously. We observed the technology fail, DVDs load and buttons be pressed as Marshall created the piece on the fly. Marshall was unconsciously self-conscious throughout his performance. His dance was chaotic and indulgent. His serenade (Fats Waller’s ‘Honey Suckle Rose’) was impressive and sweet. His nervousness, however, punctured the space, at times adding to and at times detracting from the overall aesthetic of the piece.
 
Merz and More was so many things; intriguing, jarring, unsettling, provoking, distressing, alluring, sexy, revealing, busy, monochrome, calm, alarming, shrill, fast, naked, technological, unrelenting, real, cold, messy, pointed, inspiring, colourful and mechanical.