The work was available on our website only for the period of the screening.
“Everlasting Happiness” (00:11:28) by Deborah White, Australia, 2022
‘The tongue-in-cheek antics of spiritual anarchists fighting for a utopian desire in a battle against the pathology of the post-truth world.’
“Everlasting Happiness” anarchist philosophy provides a stepping-stone to explore the utopian idea of love as a political concept— with an overarching theme of love of the most distant. This is not a sentimental notion but a robust love with a revolutionary power. The performance-based video depicts a tongue-in-cheek fantasy of mystical anarchists battling against the facade of the post-truth world. Viewing the actions of love as a deployment of force, this work intertwines supernatural wonder with the spectacle of war. Featuring fictitious characters that defy the rational world, the playful and vibrant video is infused with flower power and animal warriors that open the heart to hope and joy. The fantasy and self-deprecating humour serve to shift perspective and disrupt conditioned patterns of thinking. Inspired by the transformative power of love, the work envisions a battle for a utopian non-place of the imagination.
Director Bio
Deborah White is a multi-media artist based in Melbourne. She completed a MFA at Monash University in 2015. Deborah has exhibited her work in numerous national and international exhibitions, screenings and festivals. Her video installations have been exhibited at Queensland Centre for Photography (2011), Linden (2011) and Bundoora Homestead Art Centre (2016). Collaborative projects have been shown at Transmediale in Berlin (2009) and her videos have screened at the Adelaide Festival Centre (2018), Channels Festival (2022) and Untitled Art Fair in Miami, USA (2022).
White has participated in the Bayside City Council’s Billilla (2010) and the Mornington Peninsula Shire’s Police Point (2019) artists-in-residence programs. She has been a finalist in the Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (2022) and Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art (2023). She has won prizes at the Cancer Council of Victoria Art Awards (2007), Linden Postcard Prize (2004) and Absurd Art House Film Festival, UK (2022) and Newcastle International Short Film Festival (2022).
Pebbles Underground is focused on showcasing and promoting experimental, avant-garde, underground, and no-to-low budget projects by artist-humans from all over the world. Absurd, uncanny, witty, humorous, slow-video – all are welcomed, and loved.
Pebbles Underground is an independent project not funded by any government or corporation, and we intend to keep it that way. Main source of funding is personal donations from humans organizing the project, who are artists themselves, and the main drive of the project is formed by the energy and involvement of the organizers, and the public.
