Perth Voice Interactive

GHOST stories in Vincent, the dying art of neon bending, and a local beekeeper on a crusade to save stingers.

They’re all ideas that rose to the top of the slush pile and were chosen to be made into documentaries by the City of Vincent film project.

$15,000 has been allocated to make the three short docos, which are in production and scheduled to be screened in July.

In Ghosts of Vincent, Paul Van Lieshout, Kimberly McGivern and Ellen Broadhurst examine the historical people and venues around town, including an investigation into the legend of “Kanga”, the ghost said to haunt the Leederville Hotel.

While Rachael Karotkin and Matt Sav’s film Neon, explores the world of neon signs.

Ghosts of Vincent

Neon tube bending, which creates the elaborate shapes, is a dying art in Perth, but the film follows a young man doing an apprenticeship to keep the legacy alive.

And Cody Greenwood, Samantha Marlowe and Francis Elliot’s The Beeman, is about apian expert Carl Maxwell, the man people call when they have a hive needing relocating.

The Vincent film project had previously been run with the Film and Television Institute, but with the FTI wrapping up mid-last year, the Revelation Film Festival stepped in.

The project had a record number of submissions this year, and the winning ideas were selected by a panel of industry experts and judges from Vincent and Revelation. With screenings planned for July, project coordinator Ashleigh Nicolau says they’re planning some interactive events for the films like art exhibitions and ghost tours.

by DAVID BELL

AN obnoxious weed with a cute name is invading Perth waterways.

Recently spotted in Bayswater Brook in late December, Amazon frogbit rapidly spreads by jettisoning little fragments stuffed with pods, laden with dozens of seeds that can germinate up to three years later.

The Central and South American weed can double its biomass in just a few days and is sold in WA for aquariums, but when numpties dump their old aquarium water into waterways it can cause “widespread devastation”—blocking drains, waterways and wetlands, choking out the native vegetation and reducing water quality, according to the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

DBCA drainage manager Kate Bushby said early detection and containment is crucial to managing the weed as it spreads so fast.

The department is working with Bayswater council, Water Corp and SERCUL to remove the weed and search for the initial source along drainage lines at Bayswater Brook.

The Brook catchment area covers a large chunk of Bayswater and the surrounding suburbs, and then flows out through the Swan River via the waterway that runs past Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary.

The DBCA has also put booms out to try to catch the weed’s seeds from getting any further down the brook.

Since 2013 there’s been a few infestations of frogbit around Perth’s eastern and southern suburbs, but thankfully those were isolated instances and it hasn’t been able to properly infest the river.

If you see any frogbit around, email the DBCA at rivers.info@dbca.wa.gov.au, or call them on 9278 0900.

LISA SCAFFIDI resumed her lord mayoral duties this week, stepping back into the job while awaiting a reduced penalty from the State Administrative Tribunal.

She told a press conference on Monday there was no bad blood between her and Perth councillors James Limnios, Reece Harley and Jemma Green, despite them calling on her to quit over the travel declaration affair.

Ms Scaffidi temporarily relinquished her duties four months ago, while appealing the 18-month disqualification doled out by SAT for 45 breaches of the local government act, relating to non-declaration of gifts and travel contributions.

In November the court of appeal overturned 26 of those 45 breaches and sent the case back to the SAT to determine a revised penalty, which was expected to take about three months.

Penalty

At the time Ms Scaffidi said she wanted to sit down with the local government department, whose CEO is bringing the case against her, to negotiate an appropriate penalty.

She said if they wouldn’t sit down for reasonable negotiations she’d resume her mayoral duties while awaiting the new SAT ruling.

During her absence James Limnios was acting lord mayor, and then after October’s election Jemma Green was selected as deputy, immediately propelling her into the acting lord mayoral role.

Post-election the new balance of power meant that policies previously stonewalled by Ms Scaffidi’s allies on council were approved: the amount the city charges restaurants to set up alfresco dining was slashed, and a partial free parking trial was introduced over Christmas.

Councillors also voted to reduce their own clothing allowance from $13,360 per year each to $3,000.

On Monday Ms Scaffidi said the council would operate smoothly with her back at the helm; but the next full council meeting isn’t til February 13, and the revised SAT penalty is expected around then too.

by DAVID BELL

THE finest artworks of the Renaissance meets the best of internet meme culture in WTF Renaissance.

Part of the upcoming Perth Fringe Festival, the exhibition takes the most stately, dignified, finest works of the renaissance and warps them with 21st century captions, with an ethos of “old paintings, new captions, total nonsense”.

The project was started by comedy producer Angela Mary Claire Thompson in August 2014 “while a lot of my friends, who are mostly comedians, were all at Edinburgh Fringe and I was at home in Melbourne”.

She started adding captions to Renaissance paintings, “basically entertaining myself, and then accidentally started entertaining other people so decided to keep at it”.

For a while WTF Renaissance was only viewable online, but it has since been exhibited twice in Perth, and also at the Adelaide and Melbourne Fringe festivals.

Thompson says the best way to describe it is to “imagine going to the Louvre with your most sarcastic friend or relative. The one who has to make up a little back story for the paintings. WTF Renaissance is real Renaissance paintings with fictional captions, mostly set in the modern era. It’s like watching a classic film with captions from The Simpsons, or Samantha Bee.”

The humour’s not for everyone, but Thompson says “my theory is even if people don’t get it, the paintings are stunning, so all is not lost. Most people get some of it.

“It is interesting when I’m walking around the exhibition, as hardly anyone ever knows it’s mine, so I get to hear what people really think.

“Sometimes people don’t get it so badly that they get angry about it, which I find quite interesting. Mostly the reaction is very good. I’ve taken photos for people in front of the exhibitions before, with them having no idea I wrote it.

“I haven’t had anyone get offended at an exhibition, but sometimes people will get very upset online when I use religious paintings which is pretty common given it’s Renaissance art. Sometimes on Twitter they’ll get quite abusive which is quite funny really.”

The project has gotten huge exposure. New York Times columnist Bret Stephens said “where would our literary culture be without @WtfRenaissance?”

The first Perth exhibition was 28 pieces and this one’ll be far bigger, and it runs as part of the 30 shows being hosted by The Lucky Cat at the Perth Town Hall from January 27 to February 25.

by DAVID BELL

PROMINENT Perth urban planner Linley Lutton died January 7, aged 64.

In recent times he was best known as the lead campaigner against the Elizabeth Quay development, as part of the City Gatekeepers movement.

Prior to that he had a long and varied career as an architect, urban planner, and was former chair of the Australian Institute of Urban Studies WA.

Mr Lutton worked in China, planning public spaces in areas with booming populations, and in Libya helping emerging towns achieve a good balance between public space and higher density housing.

But in Perth, in recent years, he grew concerned over the state government’s push for increased density.

He said retrofitting our cities for higher populations, by plonking apartment blocks in suburbs, was “a great demonstration of poor city planning”.

Writing for The Conversation in September, he said “justified in the name of sustainability, the results are often substandard living environments showing no relationship to the local context”.

He was critical of the mantra that high density was good for sustainability, saying if developers truly cared about sustainability they wouldn’t approve substandard designs with no consideration for energy and water consumption, and use wasteful construction materials.

As chair of the City Gatekeepers, Dr Lutton opposed Elizabeth Quay on the grounds that it was giving away a publicly-owned heritage site to the private realm, for what he called an “awful soulless development”.

Recently he worked with the Fremantle Society to try and preserve the port city’s heritage.

by DAVID BELL

THE local government department has announced a new inquiry into gift and sponsorship arrangements at the City of Perth and Joondalup councils.

The inquiry follows probity audits at a number of metro and regional councils, and these two were flagged because of the sheer “volume, value and nature” of freebies given through sponsorship arrangements.

The department’s announcement says “while there may be valid reasons for elected members and staff to accept tickets to events in a professional capacity information obtained to date indicates that, the volume, value and nature of what has been obtained through sponsorship arrangements at both local governments, may be inconsistent with their obligations to use public resources appropriately and to declare financial interests when relevant matters are being considered by council”.

The statement says “while there did not appear to be systemic issues of concern relating to gifts and sponsorship, there were some issues that require further examination”.

For many years Perth city councillors accepted tickets in exchange for sponsoring events.

In some cases the city was getting more than 100 tickets to be doled out to councillors and staff as part of a sponsorship. Following changes to the local government act and advice from the state government, in April 2016 Perth council changed its policy to no longer accept tickets or hospitality in return for sponsorship.

Museum focuses on soldier with a message

ARTIST and soldier Reginald James Walters completed his apprenticeship as a signwriter in 1913—a year later war broke out.

By 1915 he was serving with 10th Australian Light Horse in the Egyptian desert, having joined the 12th Reinforcements before they sailed from Fremantle.

Trained in art and drawing at Perth Technical School, officers found his talent a useful morale booster and made him an “artist at war,” and his works are now on display at the Museum of Perth.

He would draw postcards and comical pieces, and his signwriting skills were put to good use creating chalkboards to advise soldiers of goings on around camp.

Some advertised memorials, others informed soldiers of entertainment on offer like the troupe the Whiz Bangs—10 Australian soldiers who’d been wounded in war and put on shows for their comrades.

While he spent much of the war with chalk in hand, his diaries reveal a yearning for life-threatening action, and he even tried to transfer to a company that was about to be deployed to war-torn France.

His commanding officer refused the transfer, preferring to keep his artistic skills in camp.

His diary records that on February 17, 1916 he was “disappointed today as all the boys have gone on a ride for a couple of days. After being saddled up with full equipment at the last minute the colonel sent down to have some more signs written”.

The August 5, 1916 entry records him on the brink of action amidst the Romani Battle, saying “we are just waiting to get right into it for the first time. Machine guns are rattling just a hundred yards away”.

The tone darkens on August 7: the artist records having to crawl under Turkish machine gun fire, when a friend, James Frost, a veteran of the Gallipoli campaign, “was shot through the arm and heart”.

He writes that the battle, which saw them take 500 prisoners and five Turkish machine guns, “was considered a great win for us. But after being in action for the first time and seeing a mate killed alongside of me it makes one wonder however such a mad and horrid state of affairs can exist. But one must not be sentimental here. The other man is out to kill you, so it is best to get him first.”

The final entries, more than two years later, reveals relief at the end of the war.

5 November 1918: “Peace with Turkey and Austria now official so hurrah, home soon. Parcel from my little girl today, also letters. Am feeling goodo.”

The exhibition Reg Walters, An Artist at War is at the Museum of Perth, 8-10 The Esplanade, until January 25.

Walters lived until the early 1980s.

by DAVID BELL

IS Mt Hawthorn local Jessica Harlond-Kenny a twit for choosing a puppet show over a holiday in Ireland?

Well actually, yes, she is.

The seasoned puppeteer plays a series of characters in a razztwizzling adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Twits, including the cantankerous Mrs Twit.

It’s Spare Parts Puppet Theatre’s world premier of the jumpswiffling comedy, centered around two miserable old grunions, and is a high-energy mix of storytelling and physical theatre.

“It was one of my favourites as a child and the reason I auditioned,” Harlond-Kenny says.

“I saw the flyer and said, ‘Its me—it’s my show.’

“As a kid I loved it because it was a bit gross and naughty. The idea you could be mean and naughty and grotty is really captured by Dahl.”

Mr and Mrs Twit haven’t had a good thought or done a kind thing in years.

They like nothing more than dreaming up terrible tricks to play on each other. (my favourite bit, revisiting the book as an adult, was Mrs Twit feeding her mean hubby worms as spaghetti).

The Twits is a classic Dahl comedy, in which horrible bullies get their just desserts, director Michael Barlow says.

“They are terrible people but very funny characters and it’s so satisfying seeing Muggle-Wump the Monkey and the Roly-Poly Bird outwit them.”

“Dahl has a special gift for making fun of adults who treat children unfairly and our heroes can only win by breaking the rules and playing a few tricks of their own.”

The irreverent story is an outlet for kids struggling to find their way in the world, Harlond-Kenny says.

“Kids need to see these things; they need to talk about them.

“It’s important in our times…There are a few Twits governing some countries.”

The Spare Parts show doesn’t “belittle” kids or patronise them, and the subtlety of a joke about building a wall to keep people out of the Twits garden isn’t lost on young audiences, Harlond-Kenny says.

“Kids knew it was Donald Trump and the Mexican wall.”

The Spare Parts show is co-created by WA actor Humphrey Bower (Tales from Outer Suburbia).

Mt Twit is played by Spare Parts newbie Geordie Crawley, comedian Sam Longley is assistant director and designs are by Leon Hendroff.

The Twits is unsentimental and grotesque, but a lot of fun, and on at Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Fremantle until January 27.

For times and tickets go to sppt.asn.au or call 9335 5044.

By JENNY D’ANGER