1.
z called me this morning
he came here a few months ago, then he disappeared
i sort of knew what he would call me about
it would be about invasion
invading australia
an idea he got from reading my book
although i told him to ring me back one hour later
as i had not even brushed my teeth or washed my face2.
sure enough, he said he would design a website
called “yellow peril”
he would then invite people from all over the world
“you mean the chinese-speaking world?”
i queried and commented that it wouldn't do
as to maintain it from month to month would cost too much
and then to set up something just for the chinese was simply not
worth
it3.
“what then do you think you could do?” z said
i said, i've got an idea and it was this:
invite everyone including your state premier
to your opening at an empty gallery
fill it to overflowing and just when they start wondering
why there's nothing happening
get your troop of chinese soldiers wearing pls uniforms
carrying their rifles with ice-shining bayonets
marching into the open gallery and announcing the arrest
of all the important vips and meanwhile announcing on the radio
you had brought in and placed in a corner
that australia had been taken over by new china
exactly the same way as described in a novel written by an australian
and published in the 1980s
“brilliant idea” z said, “but i do not have the heart to do such
things
to such an innocent people!”4.
“so far,” z said. “all they do is to be looked at, gazed at
“to have their wounds exposed and examined”
“right”, i said. “from now on, with my idea of invasion of australia
we'll look at them and trample over them, all over them”
i then said to him that he could get the people held in detention
centres
as extras to appear in his show
my ideas rushing in and i started talking about this being
gazed-at-ness
saying: right! it's like mai tongku: selling your misery
to please them because they, you know, are crazy about being beaten
up
they pay for you to piss on them shit on them and spit on them
and get a hell lot of pleasure out of it
in the end they are the masters and you are the slaves
see what i mean?5.
the best thing, i said, is hold the exhibition in the parliament
house
in canberra and set shop selling all the memorabilia
commemorating chinese soldiers who have sacrificed their lives
in building new china and erasing the name of australia from the face
of
the earth
and everyone having a good laugh out of it all6.
the only thing to mind is, i said, the future success of such an
adventure
if you go it alone, i wouldn't participate but if we do it together
we'd have to have an equal share of proceeds from the sales
the admissions and the prize-money
etc, chouhua shuozai qiantou, as Chinese saying goes
“say the ugly words right at the beginning” z repeated it
and, for my readership, i make it more australian below:
set the terms right at the start to avoid any future
misunderstandings
or unequal share of the booty7.
i have one more idea about this invasion show:
issue 10000 visitor's visas to as many beautiful girls from china
get them to come to australia and visited by australian males
don't be offended
it's just a show
“what about the grant?” z said
“what about it?” i said
“australians always support good ideas that they like
you probably will get it but i'm not sure”8.
just at this junction an email drifted in from china:
“australia is an old man's country; i can't live there
thank you for all your kindness while i was there
but i've decided i prefer the noise and dirt here”
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones