Gymnasium

Tarryn Gill and Pilar Mata Dupont present scenes of fresh-faced athletes performing rhythmic routines in a slightly archaic gymnasium. What makes the scene vaguely familiar is the artists' use of the languages of the Hollywood musical review and the choreographed mass-participation spectacles of major sporting events. The technology of contemporary sports broadcasts is complex, but the aesthetics are remarkably crude. Most televised sports adopt a 'what you see is what you get' approach, enlivened only by pseudo-poetic slow motion montages and bombastic voice-overs. Gymnasium (2010) has the visual complexity of a Busby Berkeley musical of the 1930s. Compared with a television broadcast, there's a lot going on: multiple athletes, diverse activities, expansive space and interwoven movements. The aesthetics of the movie musical - clockwork choreography, extended depth of field and patterned mise-en-scene - combine to synchronise individual athletes in time and space. These seductive visual effects have their dark side. Familiar to us today in orchestrated political rallies and staged events, the synchronisation of individual performers into a single entity was integral to fascist aesthetics in the 1930s and 1940s. The alluring visual effects of Nazi propaganda films suggest a sinister subtext in sport.