6 May -
28 May 2005
Studio 12
200 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy“Pop has always been a place of truth. Either the brilliance and glamour of pop are the lie that tells the truth, or the realism and simplicity of pop are the more perfidious lie that may express harder truths.” Deidrich Deiderichen; Sexbeat, Cologne, 1985
“The world is a big candy store for her, the world is a big candy store for her, the world is a big candy store for her...” Gossip Pop/Is Paris Addicted to Love?, 2004
In 2004, Gossip Pop presented as an ongoing art project that melded gossip with pop music via live performance and video. The term also functioned as a bland, generic label or pseudo-brand for Dodd’s pseudo ‘band’. The D-I-Y, tongue-in-cheek nature of Gossip Pop deftly exposed the narrative constructs and disturbing ideologies lurking beneath the spectacle and melodrama of tabloid celebrity cults and reality TV. Dodd used the medium of pop music/video to create works that resonated like the bedroom posturing of an emotionally dysfunctional, media-saturated teenage fan, or the shonky image on a pirated DVD that could never quite pass as the real thing. The deadpan vocal delivery, robotic movements and simple manufactured beats (generated by GameBoy and palm pilot) underscored the poignancy and emptiness of our culture’s addiction to superficial entertainment, constant novelty and instant gratification.
