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For too long, it’s looked as though the ABC has been afraid of the arts. Over the years, Aunty has marginalised and axed arts programs, shunting them off its main channel or consigning them to obscure timeslots, like 10pm Tuesdays. Early in 2021,
The Mix, which ran unheralded for seven years on ABC News, was quietly retired.
The short-lived
Art Nation was terminated in 2011 and we’re now a long way from the days when magazine-style overviews such as
Express and
S
unday Afternoon offered hours of interviews, documentaries, films and feature stories. More recently, whenever the ABC has produced arts programs, its discomfort has been evident. One indication of a lack of confidence has been the push to insert comedians at any opportunity. It’s as if the operative thinking is that, unless attention to books, film, theatre, visual arts, opera and music comes with a few laughs, no one will be interested.
Three-part documentary Finding the Archibald and weekly magazine show Art Works can t fix ABC TV s coverage of the arts brisbanetimes.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from brisbanetimes.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In other words: no digital trickery beyond basic editing techniques such as cutting and montage. An expansive electro soundtrack from The Presets’ Kim Moyes adds a journeying, exploratory element to the show, enriching a kaleidoscopic and frankly astonishing experience that reminded me of an evening many years ago when I ate magic mushrooms and spent several hours staring at a fire.
At the heart of the series (produced by Rob Innes and made in consultation with scientist Dr Niraj Lal) is a sensation similar, in fact, to recreational drug use, derived from the thrill of observing things from daily life from a different perspective, revealing the extraordinary in the ordinary. The show’s declaration that “the story of the universe is visible all around us, written in the patterns of nature” might by itself have read like an airy statement scribbled down by a stoned philosophy student. But after watching Phenomena, you will be convinced it’s bang-on.