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History
of the Australian Art Scene
by Blup [ACiD] (19 January, 1998)
The Beginning
The
Australian scene began in the "Dark Ages",
of the year 1991 when 9600 baud modems were the best you
could buy. There was an extremely prominent group that went
by the name of DiE. At the time, the artwork released
by the group was really something. A few of the members
include Sudden Death, Flick, Randers, Cyco, Joystick,
and many others. DiE pretty much kick-started the Australian
scene; it also had a WHQ called Violent Crimes which had
callers from all over the world, it was situated in Melbourne,
Victoria. I was 12 years old at the time and was really
inspired by their productions; they made it to 8 packs,
and disbanded. The reason behind the disbandment was due
to the mainstays - SD, Flick, and Randers parting the group.
SD quit, Randers went to iCE and Flick followed. Flick released
a revival pack #9 which was to unsuccessfully reform DiE
as Dimension 7, there was also a music pack along
the lines.
There
was also another group called ADFA - Another Damn Fine
ANSI; which lasted three packs. Due to PR inadequacies the
members of the group either merged with DiE or left the
scene altogether. Rising from DiE's ashes was Skag, formed
by the minor ex-members of DiE. Skag never got anywhere
and faded away.
I
guess this must have been the way the Australian scene started
as I have no recollection of any other groups at that period
of time that would have been as instrumental as DiE.
Apocalyptic Visions
Melbourne
was the hub of the artscene; after Skag disbanded there
was a group headed by Blue Apache and Jesta
called Flare which crumbled pretty quickly, and from
the remains emerged the longest-living group Apocalyptic
Visions. Apocalyptic Visions has survived up to its
sixteenth pack over a period of three years. Another group
in the area was Sick, which lasted five packs and disappeared
into hibernation, then to be merged with Apocalyptic Visions.
Flick, one of the original members of DiE now inhabits Apocalyptic
Visions.
The
group had an extremely varied memberlist which had ANSI,
VGA and RiP artists, as well as the odd musician. The original
VGA artists included Jesta, Goblin, The Rex, Mr. Krinkle.
Additions to the list included myself, Vejita, Deathstroke,
Nutbutter and others. The only person who did RiP was Mr.
Krinkle, I tried but it didn’t work for me. The ANSI artists
include: Blue Apache, Ensanguined, Fluff, Harlequin, Mr.
Krinkle, and many others.
At
this moment to my knowledge, Apocalyptic Visions are
planning a surprise, so watch out for this group in
the near future folks.
Force
From
the state next door South Australia, burst out a one-man
effort called Force. Hailing from the city of Adelaide;
the group created by Anubis became the largest ANSI
group Australia ever had. Force was a solo effort for two
packs until members started joining, they mainly came from
Sydney. Later, groups merged with Force; those involved
in the merger were: Grim, Gas and Pyro. Two desirables also
had a short stint with Force Squidgalator ][ who
continues to draw for Ice, and Maeve Wolf, Australia’s
only female ANSI artist who is now enjoying the rest of
life. Anubis had a two pack stint with Acid as well,
but when he was away, Force began falling apart and so he
returned.
Force
has progressed up to pack 18, but whether or not they
are still active is yet to be seen. In pack 18 Anubis
stepped down from being the head honcho, Dangermouse
and Regurgitator quit; everything seemed to spell the end
of a dynasty, until Krisis issued a statement that Force
was still going. But there are more twists and turns to
this spetactle, I was told Krisis had quit too, so what
the hell is going on? Anyways, a BBS operated by Krisis
and Kurrupt called Organised Kaos offered an ANSI help center
which newbies could get help and advice as well as the usual
tutorials and so on, the help center was probably the only
such thing of it’s kind in existence.
The
memberlist has something that Apocalyptic Visions didn’t
have – geographical coverage. There were members from
all over Australia and some from overseas whereas Apocalyptic
Visions was somewhat concentrated within Victoria.
To
date, it seems that Force is dead, or so some members say
otherwise.
The
Brisbane Scene
I
hail from city of Brisbane in the state of Queensland.
No local group has made it to something major like Apocalyptic
Visions or Force, but nonetheless I’ll elaborate on what’s
happened so far. Back in 1992-1993 there was a group called
Peril, and it consisted of Maeve Wolf and the sister
of ex-DiE member maddog who called herself Kelly McWilliam.
It was big on lit and a bit of ANSI, but due to internal
squabbles, Peril disbanded. After Peril came Prophet,
again headed by Maeve Wolf; Prophet was mainly lit, but
there were ANSI's and VGA’s, this is the group Squidaglator
][ started off in. It died after members succumbed to
apathy, which is endemic in the Australian scene anyway.
A few years later came Pyro which lasted two packs
before merging with force. Pyro was where Dangermouse
and Regurgitator started off in. And things haven’t
progressed much since then, there is one group, called Uzi,
which is run by warez pups. Uzi has currently released three
packs, although with no circulation they are somewhat local.
Nothing else is happening locally, probably due to the absence
of "significant" artists to inspire the next generation
of artists; so it seems the artscene is dead in this city.
The
Unification
In
the period of 1995 - 1996 was something I call the "Unification".
It was the forming of two Australia-wide mailnets - Bloodnet
and Madnessnet. It was with these two mailnets that
the Australian artscene could converse together, and a spectacular
result it was too. The bbs's that made it possible went
offline permanently. And so that was the end of the most
exciting era of the Australian artscene. Whether or not
it can be reproduced is a question yet to be answered, but
I guess the Internet has put an end to bbs mailnets unfortunately.
End
bit
"The
good old days" seem to be true from my viewpoint on the
Australian artscene, maybe it's just a dry spell that's
happening at the moment. Who knows; the scene is still alive
and kicking, but perhaps in a different way then what it
used to be.
This
article was written by Blup of ACiD with help from
Blue Apache of Apocalytpic Visions and Squidaglator
][ of iCE, without their help this article would not
have been as historically correct as it is now.
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