Face to Face with... Daniel Askill

Daniel Askill, a director with @radical.media and Collider, has helmed stunning work for clients such as Smirnoff and Air France, and artists like U.N.K.L.E. and Sia but has also exhibited his art work at various shows.  Here he talks to shots.net about his new Sydney-based exhibition, Modern Worship, which explores two major events from the last decade; the death of Michael Jackson and the atrocities of 9/11.

Where did the idea for this exhibition come from?

The ideas are drawn from a feature film project I've been developing for a while. In this case a curator I have worked with before found this amazing space that was once a church and it seemed the perfect place for this exhibition.

Have you always been interested in pop culture and the modern dissemination and dissection of news?

Not particularly, but 9/11 did have a big impact on me as a sign of the times, the incredible spectacle of the imagery combined with the horrible human tragedy made for a very particular kind of media event.

How much of an influence was JG Ballard's The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered as a Downhill Motor Race on this exhibition?

I've always been a big JG Ballard fan, but that story wasn't so much a direct influence as an interesting reference point for this show. In a different way, and with a different medium it takes a tragic event and re-contextualizes it in the hope of shedding new light. I think it is always an interesting exercise to try and look at the world around us through a different lens whenever possible. I think it helps to try and keep your world view elastic and non-judgmental.

Why did you want to juxtapose the 9/11 atrocities and the death of Michael Jackson?

I guess I should make it clear that I'm in no way trying to say that the death of Michael is somehow equal in weight to the tragic events of 9/11, which is clearly not the case. When an idea comes it often has no reason attached, these were just images that really stuck in my mind. As the idea hangs around it tends to gather up other stuff like a snowball. These two images slammed up against each other seemed to resonate as some kind of icon and reflection of the times we live in.

We do live in a world where you can jump online and be watching Michael Jackson's first moonwalk one second, then a tragic news cast the next, and then some silly viral clip of someone's baby eating a kitten....it is just a weird but amazing world and it is interesting to try and hold a mirror up to it sometimes and see it back to front.

Do you consider them to be the most powerful news and pop culture stories of the last decade?

No, they are just two that I was drawn to.

The exhibition involves projections, sculpture, video and photography; do you have a preferred medium in which to work, or enjoy experimenting with a variety?

Yeah, I really enjoy the mix; images and sound of all kinds have always been intoxicating for me.

In a similar vein, you work in commercials, music videos as well as creating art exhibitions; do you have a preference there too or do they all have their own unique challenges?

Yes, the combination of working across all these areas is something I really enjoy. They all have their unique qualities and I find they feed each other. I think the key is to just always try to collaborate with people who are sincerely interested in making good work.

A good amount of you work involves shooting with or in water; is that purposefully done?

Working with water is something I have always loved, I couldn't say it has been on purpose but there is something so simple and primal about it, but also so complex and beautiful. It makes great subject matter.

How would you describe your style of direction?

I think fundamentally I love the idea of creating something that you can't see with your own eyes. Reality is obviously also great subject matter for film but for me creating another world is much more interesting (unless you are literally making a documentary, of course).

What are you working on next that we should be on the look-out for?

I've just finished up a music video for my friends at Modular Records and I am also working on a film for Ksubi that will be out soon. I'm busy with our own company, Collider and after this exhibition I'm heading back to New York to do some more writing and [to] head into Radical Media.

Modern Worship runs from April 21 to 24 and for more information click here