The program notes do a pretty good job of expressing the underlying theme of this exhibition, housed in a dark, cavernous space downstairs at ACMI: according to those notes, "World Without End" is concerned with 'how we perceive the world through an endless series of flows and flux: cycles of night and day, constantly changing weather patterns, crossings through natural and urban environments, currents of memory, emotion and reflection.' The individual pieces instantiate this broad theme in many different ways, and collectively the exhibition covers a lot of ground, doing so in a way which is almost unfailingly interesting - all sorts of cycles, flows and unified adumbrations are woven into (indeed, essentially constitute) the screened works, and despite the looseness of the exhibition's ostensible theme, there is a sort of unity to it. All in all, "World Without End" is really good.
My favourite was Daniel Crooks' "Train No. 1", in which a sort of 'time-slicing' technology is employed to create a fragmented, almost-unified perception of motion...very interesting! Also spent some time surrounded by the five parallel screens of the spectacular "History of a Day" (Simon Carroll & Martin Friedel), all scudding clouds and erupting volcanoes and windmills and bright city lights...Darren Almond's "A", tracking across Antarctic landscapes in three long pans, was another highlight - quite hypnotic, as were several of the other works - and the evocative, post-apocalyptic "Too Dark for Night" (Clare Langan), shot in desolate Namibia, also tapped into something in me. But there were lots of interesting ideas and striking images to be found outside of those few pieces, and I'd be tempted to return at some stage (given that we happened to visit on opening day, there'll be plenty of opportunities in the future).
