The Eternal Border, a discussion on taboos at the 2010 WorldCon

An AussieCon4 panel including Deborah Biancotti, Richard Harland, Jason Nahrung and Catherynne Valente took a starting point that dark fantasy can push at boundaries and examine various taboos.

Deborah Biancotti

Deb is a Sydney-based writer, psychology graduate and a dark fantasist who likes “playing with” the taboo of death. She also notices the differences within cultures and how there are many alternatives to a Christian or “western” approach.

Catherynne Valente

Cat has written over a dozen novels and won many awards for her challenging work. She cites Lolita as an example of a work that is so powerful because it is so beautifully written. The skill of Nabokov’s story can be seen as shocking because it implicates the reader. Writing about subjects a particular culture is afraid of can lead to some backlash. Cat mentioned that Americans and Italians, particularly, are not happy if Christian teachings are treated in stories as mythology rather than fact.

Richard’s prolific output includes Steampunk and he mentioned stories with a macabre emphasis, for example involving body parts and also torture, can now be accepted by librarians.

Richard Harland

Of note was the thought that there are no longer any taboos in comedy or horror, and perhaps speculative fiction and fantasy have reached similar acceptance when dealing with many taboos.

Cat found, however, that what appeared to be autobiographical content distressed a small but nonetheless significant percentage of her audience. Polysexual themes are “accepted in spec fic” however, she said, and suggested that is why there are many poly people in that community.

 

Artists’ Paradox of “a knock at the door” at AussieCon4

Cat Sparks, Nick Stathopoulos and Shaun Tan spoke to an enthusiastic audience at one WorldCon 2010 panel, with Kyla Ward acting as moderator.

Shaun Tan

Shaun explained a key feature of art, for him, is that it must be interesting, which doesn’t mean overloaded. His own work is often edited and pruned back to the essence of what he wants to express. Shaun also said he prefers indirect rather than literal. All the panel used examples of their own work to explain their approach, with commentary by each other on particular works.

Cat Sparks

Cat said she is a graphic designer and not an artist and so was embarrassed to be on panel with “real artists” as she mainly works in collage. Cat has an artist father and she learned from a young age the mechanics of collage. Nick and Shaun believed Cat was being too modest and said many great artists used the collage medium, and that they did also when it suited a project.

Nick Stathopoulos

Nick works primarily as an artist although added that for his book cover commissions he will sometimes use digital constructions in PhotoShop. The projects can start as paintings and he may use tools and effects to create a particular result. He doesn’t see this as an issue, merely a new approach for an artist to use when it suits.

A key part of the discussion centred on the way a phrase can be a starting point, yet the result can be extraordinary. The example of how an opening line like “there was a knock at the door” could lead to many interpretations of what type of door, so a starting point of “the knock” being from the inside of a microwave door can lead to interesting and captivating art.