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Corrupt Australia presents an alternative to the politically correct channels of debate to reveal and scrutinize the skewed structure/design of modern Australian society. We also seek to encourage autonomous Australian culture which is free from the standardizing and overly materialistic clutches of globalisation and which encourages citizens to go further than simply contributing to a quantity over quality mindset and the banal and unsustainable conditions under which we may increase our love for and attainment of material mass. |
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The Industrial LandscapeBeing a rather strange child, I gazed on this grim sight with awe and reverence, to me it spoke of power, the ability of man to dominate and control, to bring the natural ecology to its knees for his own ends. All this appealed to me, I desired that power for myself, I wanted to see more of the natural landscape destroyed simply for the sake of complete and utter domination, the impulse to destroy came first. This may seem inhuman to some, but it was little more than typical teenage rebellion. The industrial landscape was aesthetically ugly and had an ominous atmosphere, matching my contrarian ideology, which aimed to violate what I perceived as 'acceptable' standards. This is also the same reason I was drawn to heavy metal music, in which my taste became increasingly more extreme as I searched for the music that would truly tear down all that was considered 'acceptable' by the modern mentality. Eventually this led me to the Dark Legions Archive, where I began to realise that 'extreme' underground metal was more than simply an anti-society movement, it had another, higher purpose. It didn't only want to destroy, it wanted to create something better. This caused me to rethink my infatuation with the industrial landscape which dominated large parts of my home city. I looked instead to nature, and began to realise that its beauty was infinitely more inspiring, that its harsh extremity was truly opposed to moralistic modernity, while the industrial landscape was simply a manifestation of the ugly truth about humanity; it was dominated by greed and an uncontrollable impulse to manipulate the landscape in a pathetic attempt to satisfy an insatiable hunger. It wasn't a symbol of man's power, but his abdication, his loss of self-discipline, and his ultimate failure. At this point I became disillusioned with the idea of industrialisation and rejected the landscape as a pointless act of destruction. However, shortly after I started listening to death metal more than the romantic Norwegian black metal bands; I watched Edward Burtynsky's manufactured landscapes. He managed to capture, in an entirely objective fashion, the ugliest and most horrifying images of the industrial landscape around the world. Much like death metal, it forced the perceiver to face a reality they would rather ignore. Most modern people don't want to accept the price that the planet and certain people pay for their comfort, yet both of these art forms presented it in such a way that it became undeniable. I learned to view the industrial landscape in this way, as a symbol of the ugly nature of humanity, and a motivator to work against the modern mentality. Now as I sit in the Adelaide hills and reflect on my home, looking past the bland and sheltered suburbs to the miles of factories and asphalt, I feel a similar awe at its sheer terror, but now it is accompanied by melancholy, and at times even a creeping dread that may be invoked by the greatest death metal bands. Looking beyond this, beyond the human incursion, I gaze out to the ocean, it seems to stretch on forever, dwarfing the insignificant human settlement, I realise that humanity may have passed the point of no return, but all those who do not accept its current path find hope here, in the endless wonder of the universe beyond ourselves. By Moses 
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Think of it all - of the life that is! Study your friends and foes! - Henry Lawson |
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(c)2008 Corrupt AU |
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