GSFF19 | Astro Black

Titled in tribute to Sun Ra’s 1972 album, Astro Black is an ongoing multi-channel video cycle with the cosmic jazz artist as its central figure. Comprised entirely of samples from film and music sources, Soda_Jerk's work spins an alternate history of political resistance and music, via Afrofuturism, avant-garde jazz, German electronic music and hip-hop, stacked with pop cultural imagery from Star Trek to David Bowie.

Formed in Sydney in 2002, Soda_Jerk is a two-person art collective working at the intersection of documentary and speculative fiction. They are fundamentally interested in the politics of images: how they circulate, whom they benefit, and how they can be undone, through sampling, re-editing, superimposition and humour.