Chronicles of the new human organism

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RESEARCH BACKGROUND Haig's work is a nature documentary that explores the strangeness of the world around. It references and cannibalises ideas derived from Al Fry, JG Ballard, Rudolf Steiner, Wilhelm Reich, The Heaven's Gate cult, Carl Sagan and Oscar Kiss Maerth. Haig's aim was to create a work that defied categorisation and it is a hybrid blend of educational video, new age recruitment campaign and cult manifesto. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION Haig works at the intersection of visual and media arts and this work explores new ways of acquiring knowledge through video art. This film takes the viewer on a journey through a range of ideas, knowledge systems and questions relating to the origins of the human species, the significance of the reptilian mind, new forms of human sexuality, parasites, communication with the dead and alien evolutionary technology. The unique sound and music for the video was composed by PH2 (Philip Brophy and Philip Samartzis) and brings together a range of references from sci-fi scores, the pulsating electronic noise from the film Forbidden Planet and outlandish textural field recordings. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE This work reinterprets the history of visionary thinking about the human species. In exploring new ways of acquiring knowledge through video art work, the work inventively extends the notion of faux- and shock-documentary (the online gallery guide 'artabase', April 2011). The exhibition for the documentary film was held at the Institute of Modern Art (IMA). It is one of the country's first non-collecting public galleries and plays an integral role in developing contemporary art in Australian and internationally.