"Off-Air" Australia

1976, 20:59 min, b&w and color, sound

Role-playing and political performance were integral to Ant Farm's art-making strategies. In 1976 the group travelled to Australia as ironic "artists-in-residence," counter-cultural ambassadors. "Off-Air" Australia is a fragmented document of that trip, culled almost entirely from off-air footage of their television appearances, Australia media coverage of Ant Farm's events, and appropriated TV commercials. Ant Farm's Australian media events, including an irreverent performance of an "opera" for cars in front of the Sydney Opera House, typify their use of spectacle as social satire. The tape ends with a press conference on their proposed Dolphin Embassy project, a mobile platform for communicating with dolphins.

Ant Farm Australia Tour 1976 Doug Hurr, Doug Michels, Curtis Schreier additional trims and restorative refinements made in 2003 by Chip Lord copyright Ant Farm 2003