ON COLLABORATION
On Tuesday June 15, I was honoured to show my short film, The Winner, to a room full of some of Melbourne’s most interesting and dynamic creatives: film makers, actors, artists, photographers, designers, DJs, ad and PR people, chefs and dancers.
As proud as I was to show my work, the result of a year’s worth of thought and energy and the generous contribution of many, more proud still was I to show it to a room full of people whose work I admired.
These photos are a memento of the night that was and they come with the following reminder:
You are part of one of the most culturally gifted and creatively vibrant climates in the world today.
This generation is cutting the chains of cultural inferiority that held back its predecessors. Something new is emerging. It’s a movement you can see splayed on walls of laneways, you can feel it underground parties in abandoned warehouses, in art installations and ‘zines just for the sake of getting across some new idea. Just for art’s sake. These movements are joining the establishments of festival and fashion that have already put Melbourne on the map - but now it’s time to take it one step further.
Our worldwide awareness and its technological facilitation have meant that now more than ever we are capable of making world-standard work from this city.
There is a tendency in a small industry to play one’s cards close, for fear that there isn’t enough work to support the demand. We are of the fortunate/misfortunate generation of creatives who were never raised to expect it: there is no work unless you make it yourself. To that end I will say this: The Winner would never have come about were it not for the joy of collaboration and the generosity of artists who just longed to perform their craft.
Look around you: the next creative person you meet could be your next great collaboration that the cause of your best work to date.
Dan Brophy, June 2010
All photography by Tom Blachford and Charlie Brophy. Image composition by Dan Brophy.
