Comprised entirely of hundreds of pirated film samples, Hello Dankness is a bent suburban musical that bears witness to the psychotropic cultural spectacle of the period 2016 to 2021. Set in the American suburbs, the film follows a neighbourhood through these years as consensus reality disintegrates into conspiracies and other political contagions. Part political satire, zombie stoner film, and Greek tragedy, the work is also informed by the encrypted memetics of contemporary internet culture.

Hello Dankness is Soda Jerk’s third feature film and screened within Soda Jerk’s solo exhibition Open Sauce, which also included screenings of their controversial political fable TERROR NULLIUS (2018) and a large-scale installation of THE WAS (2015), Soda Jerk’s video collaboration with The Avalanches.

The co-commission by the Adelaide Film Festival and the Samstag Museum of Art supports the development and presentation of bold and innovative screen-based works by artists and screen creators. Hello Dankness is the eleventh commission among works by artists that include Lynette Wallworth, Daniel Crooks and Warwick Thornton.