DOCUMENTARYWreaking havoc:Did You Ask the River?
Arrivingat ACMI on the final day ofDidYouAsktheRiver?,
I was relievedto discoverthat, despitethe sessionbeing
bookedout, a few peoplehadn’tturnedup. Therefore,I
was given the opportunityto experiencethis work by the
winnerof the 2018 MordantFamilyVR Commission.
Donningthe headset,I assumethe first-personavatar
of an eighteenth-centurycolonialfemaleexplorer,com-
plete with impractical dress and giant hat (in what I later
learn is Ross’ trademarkfluorescenthi-vis yellow).I know
this becausemy on-screenpersonais positionedin front of
a mirrorin an uncannyexperienceof self-witnessing.The
attendantgives me a pair of handheldcontrollers,which
allow me to pick up objects– and, as I soon discover,to
wreak havocon the Australianlandscape.While I recog-
nise the gum trees, this terrain,with its garishcolours
and anachronistictouches,is a surrealrepresentation.
Ross and her collaborator,Josh Harle,made the
seven-minute-longDid You Ask the River? using thehttp://www.metromagazine.com.au | © ATOM | Metro Magazine 201• 83