La Perruque

BACKGROUND: La Perruque contributes to the broad field of video art and the narrow field of artworks that explore corporate culture and the aesthetics of power. The peer community includes Pilvi Takala (FIN) and Ryan Gander (UK). Key characteristics of this scholarly debate include a satirical approach involving appropriation, supplementary narratives, humour and imitation. Recent projects that have influenced this debate include Ryan Gander's video work 'Imagineering' (2013) and Pilvi Takala's recent intervention titled 'The Stroker' (2018). This work seeks to extend this field by using the high production values and artificiality of commercial stock footage to explore the aesthetics of corporate culture in a reflexive way. CONTRIBUTION: La Perruque explores themes of duplicity and creative diversion as a form of resistance within the corporate workplace: how can commercial stock footage be used to humourously explore commercial representations of office life and the ethics of time spent at work? La Perruque was made entirely from commercial stock footage purchased online. This footage was used to tell the tale of an office worker who is trying to write a novel during work hours. Professional voice over, post-production editing, dubbing and music were combined to create a narrative that humourously subverts the aesthetics of corporate culture. SIGNIFICANCE: This work was commissioned as a solo presentation by Sutton gallery for the Spring 1883 Art Fair at the Windsor Hotel. The Art Fair had over 8,000 visitors across 4 days. Spring 1883 was reviewed by David Wlazlo for the online journal Memo review. La Perruque received positive feedback in this review. Spring 1883 included the work of several high profile Australian artists including Patricia Piccinini, Christian Thompson, Juan Davilla and Elizabeth Newman. In 2023, this work was shown as a trilogy of films at Melbourne NOW exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia.