DEBORAH KELLY | ARTIST

MCA, Sydney 2005

Singapore Biennale 2008

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Wedded to nationalist aspiration, will to power, hungers for order and for chaos, extremist religious zealots are active in public life and politics.

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The Beware of the God project was a free, cross-media resource regarding the impacts and aspirations of religious literalists in the public sphere. It incorporated ideas and reportage from Australia and elsewhere, because although context is everything, a global phenomenon is also something. Beware of the God interrogated the phenomenon, aimed to bring it into the realm of culture, and documented some of its scope, breadth and depth. 

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Initially commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney by curator Russell Storer, the work comprised: 

• projections onto clouds over Singapore and Sydney Harbour (and over 100 documentation photographs, plus broadcast-quality video of the projection events)

• 40,000 free postcard-stickers

• A limited edition etched metal plaque

• A 30 second animated film, shown on 42 video billboards in the Sydney subway network, every ten minutes for ten weeks, and in Sydney cinemas during the Queer Film Festival 2006

• An extensive online resource and archive, with essays, news, stories, dossiers, artwork, links, images, free artworks to download and distribute, and invitations to participate. (now defunct)