State-funded evil?

Australia is a nation of states. And they are different states, with a different ethos. Although all seem to be heading in the same regressive/progressive direction, the state of Victoria seems to be leading the race to the bottom. Indicative of this is ‘Rising’, Melbourne’s third annual taxpayer-funded arts festival, held in June 2024.

Amongst the good arts projects, and the bad, there was also the downright ugly. For example, you could listen to ‘queer Filipino ghost stories’. Then there is Anito – a ‘megafauna dance deep time from Sydney’s underground quest and diasporic club scenes’. Or you could go to Crip Rave Theory, ‘a disability-led party and a political statement which draws on disabled/crip knowledge to create more intersectionally-accesible party spaces’. Crip stands for cripple. Until five minutes ago this would have been regarded as grossly politically incorrect, but apparently some academic in some humanities department, probably in the US, has decided to reclaim the language and so ‘cripple’ moves from being an insult to a political badge – doubtless soon to have its own flag!

There are several other examples of insanity, moral darkness and grotesque celebration of evil – but the worst must surely have been in the Malthouse theatre where a Brazilian ‘artist’ was drugged unconscious while female performers moved around her body and then inserted a camera with a live video for the audience. The Guardian praised the show as being a ‘knockout, nightmarish odyssey’.