Soda_Jerk’s Terror Nullius was an exciting, incisive, epic piece of video art that blasted the Australian media and forced us to think of how cultural cringe intersects with our yet unconfronted violent past with its Indigenous people.

I am still in awe at the sheer volume of media they have amassed and edited for this project.

I am really glad that such a project is screening at a public arts institution and alongside one of its biggest exhibitions as well. I hope that people will see it who do not usually engage with the “left wing” politics and that it will give them a chance to reconsider how “beloved” Australian classics have racist, sexist, and homophobic overtones.

I watched the film with some older creatives and it was interesting to hear them say that they sometimes felt found the speed of cuts overwhelming. Whilst there was definitely a lot going on, many layers of image and sound and text to pay attention to, and that the sense of bombardment is definitely a part of the work’s intentions – it occurred to me that this style of rapid cuts is very much taken from the Youtube age of video creation.

It is exciting to see the humorous and frankly brilliant techniques exemplified by Youtube creators legitimised by being in a gallery space. It’s not a major shift from ACMI’s usual programming but it is still gratifying.