Sydney Harbour Bridge. Bondi. Ayers Rock

Paul Winkler is one of Australia’s leading experimental filmmakers. He’s continued making experimental films since the late sixties making many films that centre on and around Australian icons and Australian culture. Winkler explores these themes with a focus of analysis of the image itself. Deconstructing the icon, Winkler enables the viewer to catch a glimpse of the subject in its native form, unemcumbered by preconception. This video shows three of his films. Sydney Harbour Bridge (1977): a mesmerising film that frames the Sydney Harbour Bridge with it’s watery environment and surrounding reflections (playing homage perhaps to Maholy-Nagy 1951 film, Light Play Black, White, Grey). Bondi (1979): plays on a juxtaposition of cultural images and their context. The repositioning of the ‘Australian beach icons’ serves as a cultural positioning. In Bondi we see the filmmaker re-constructing our cultural landscape juxtaposing images in order that we may form some other sense of our culture. Ayers Rock (1981): explores one of Australia’s most famous icons. The image of the rock is deconstructed until it becomes a flat form of camoflague imposed on a panoramic view of the landscape.