Tales from futures past: the lessons of Lemmy Caution

The intergalactic traveller of Jean Luc Godard's 1965 sci-fi noir thriller Alphaville may seem an unlikely figure in the history of video art. While the title of this exhibition has its origins in nineteenth century speculative science, Lemmy Caution is its atavistic guide. A traveller in time and space, he represents that which is at a distance, from afar, a stranger in a strange land. Between smokes and dishing out rough justice he can tell you all you need to know about advanced technology, computers, urban screens and artificial vision---themes that are central to Seeing to a Distance. Single Channel Video Work from Australia. Like Caution, Australia for many years was defined as the antipodes, a remote other perpetually out of sight. Long before the Internet and the idea of a networked, global culture, Australia's relations to the rest of the world had been technologically mediated. It was the outer limits, always experienced at a distance.