For anyone and everyone who may have ever been involved in some aspect of Adelaide’s experimental media community, the name Danimations is likely to ring a bell or two. The man behind the said alias is local artist/ musician/ filmmaker/ animator/ writer/ singing telegram Dan Monceaux who as the above check list would accurately lead you to believe, has built himself quite a reputation as a creative jack of all trades both locally and internationally.

His latest project; shared in equal parts with filmmaker and partner Emma Sterling, goes under the guise of Supermarket and sees the two artists combining both visual and audio elements with the intention of completely immersing the audience in both artistic mediums. Although I am quite familiar with much of Monceaux’s previous work, I was still slightly unsure of what to expect from the Supermarket experience. All the same, one could hardly feel uncomfortable upon entering the “too small to be a cinema but just too big to be a living room” Iris cinema within the Mercury Cinema complex, and taking a seat amongst the decent sized crowd that had assembled for the final Supermarket performance for the Adelaide Fringe.

The performance began with a short introduction from Dan in which he encouraged the crowd to leave its expectations behind, sit back and enjoy the performance for what it was. I took his advice well and slugged into slouch position to make the most of my immersion experience as the lights dimmed and film began. Over the course of the next 35 minutes, I was nothing short of yes, that’s right… immersed in an extraordinarily eclectic mash up of music and video, which never ceased to surprise with its unexpected twists and often quirky content.

Musically speaking, the performance was very much an instrumental affair with strong leanings towards bass-heavy dub reggae and the occasional dashing of drum n’ bass thrown in for good measure. Whilst the sounds themselves were not quite as organic as any potential reggae enthusiast may have preferred, keyboards and programming were taken full advantage of with a vast array of creamy smooth synth lines creeping in and out of the mix every which way, and some hard hitting bass lines providing just the right amount of groove. The aforementioned lack of vocals allowed the music to breath and the audience’s attention to focus on the screen. Continuity between tunes was provided in the form of the ‘Narrator’, a collection of samples from a deliberately generic sounding American guy talking up the many benefits of supermarket shopping.

As effective as the Supermarket audio element may have been, there’s no doubt in my mind that the video footage was the star of the show. Made up almost entirely of footage shot by the artists themselves, the audience was treated to a mind buzzing display of seemingly organized chaos that appeared to crescendo, shrink, twist, turn and jolt in perfect unison with the music. Early on in the piece, a montage of footage displaying Australian and American indigenous communities was shortly followed on by a collection of cheesy 70’s sci-fi clips. Hilarity was provided in the form of ‘UGGH’: a dub reggae fuelled observation of one of the more forgettable fashion trends of our times and ‘Balloon’ – a simplistic Super 8 shot adventure of a balloon going to the Fringe Festival and falling in love with… Another balloon. The highlight for me appeared later on in the set with a mash of grimed up Super 8 footage collected from highways and streets across the globe, backed up by some pretty hard-hitting drum and bass. In order to create more of a live performance setting, the preexisting visual works were often interestingly combined with effects and other footage whilst the voice of the ‘Narrator’ and other musical elements were all also triggered live by the artists.

As the performance came to an end, Monceaux provided the crowd with an in depth explanation into the project’s beginnings, its current material and its ambitious goals for the future. Having already spent much time working and performing in other parts of the globe (most notably with an artist residence in Buffalo USA), the duo are all set for further international travel which will surely see their repertoire and subsequent performances expand to bigger and better things.