Preview: Generation Slashie

Photo credit: Creative Commons Flickr user tapse

Words Cait Sandercock 

These days it’s all about being a jack of all trades… and a master of writing, producing and editing a short film, while simultaneously designing vector artwork for a magazine, compiling a playlist for your weekly math rock slot on community radio, and contributing to an online photography blog with some high quality snaps of those rad wall pastes you saw in Summer Hill.

In 24 hours.

While updating your Twitter status every 15 minutes.

And possibly standing on one leg.

Caffeine-fuelled super creatives

Creativity has rarely been bound to a singular medium, but trying to keep up with the ever-changing plethora of ways in which to participate in the creative process is a constant challenge in itself. There are those super human beings who walk amongst us, however, who not only manage to roll with the times, but also manage to capitalise on new media to spice up their (caffeine-fuelled) careers through multiple and simultaneous creative pursuits.

Nine of these fine personalities will be showcased in Creative Sydney’s ‘Generation Slashie’ event, inspiration for all those would be designer/writer/radio producers and director/musician/blogger extraordinaires out there.

The event will be presented in collaboration with TwoThousand , everyone’s favourite web-based guide to the latest happenings in Sydney’s subculture, and a platform enabling people to connect with, and support, Sydney’s creative individuals.

In support of ‘Generation Slashie’, the TwoThousand team will be putting together a mini-mag showcasing the event presenters, including insight into what drives them, and the logistics of being in five places at once.

Print sprint

The mag has a twist, though. Inspired by the frantic nature in which some of the Slashies undoubtedly work, the mag will be entirely written, designed, printed and distributed to people attending the event on the night.

“Our designer is going to sprint around to Office Works on Clarence Street,” says Nadia Saccardo, who is part of the TwoThousand team putting the mag together.

“Keep your eyes out for a guy in trackies and joggers sprinting through the MCA with a memory stick at approximately 6.30pm on Friday.”

The mag will include a snapshot of the event’s presenters, their respective projects, and will perhaps shed some light on exactly how they manage to achieve such an amazing balancing act.

Labour of love

The secret, according to Nadia, is not just an abnormal intake of caffeine and sleep deprivation.

“It takes ridiculous drive and just being plain passionate about what it is you are doing,”

“A lot of the time getting any – let alone multiple – creative pursuits off the ground is not an easy task, hours are long and remuneration is minimal. So in some respects ’success’ in these cases is because the pursuit is a definite labour of love.”

The mag will also act as a ‘slashie’ directory of sorts – providing those who would love to stick their proverbial fingers in various pies – with a useful directory of web links and creative talent in Sydney.

Because the mini mag will be created on the night of the event, people attending ‘Generation Slashie’ will also grace its pages… but in order to find out how you’ll have to rock up to the MCA, and get there early!

————————————————————————————————————————————————–

• What? Generation Slashie
• When? Friday 29th May, 6-7:30pm
• Where? The Museum of Contemporary Art
• Who? Matt Levinson (Cyclic Defrost, Canvas FBI), Kate Armstrong-Smith (Sydney Festival), Graz Mulachy (Graz Eyewear, DJ), Carolyn Miller (DDB), Jeff Burch(Songs, The Spring Press), Cara Stricker (Warflower), Mark Pritchard (UOW, Fraser Studios Project), Elmo Keep (Rhythm, Duke, Australian Rolling Stone)