Every once in a while we like to remind ourselves that shit is happening all over the world.  For this profile we went downunder and spoke with Mark McPherson about his zine and curatorial work under the name Hijacked.

Chief: Did you grow up in Australia? Were you an artistic child?

Mark McPherson of Hijacked: I grew up in coastal Western Australia, south of Perth. In the country side. Surrounded by bushland, kangaroos, snakes and sharks. On Anstey Road. Near Surf beach. We had the only house on a red dirt road. Ironically the suburban sprawl has swallowed up the area now and it’s called Secret Harbour.

I wasn’t really an artistic kid, the first memories I have of art are painting butterfly paintings in kindergarten. Dropping blobs of paint onto half a sheet of a paper and folding them in half to create mirror effects of the original and woo la, you have a butterfly impression.

What is your background in art? What kind of formal training have you had?

I completed a bachelor of arts in Photomedia, with exchange studies in Scotland and Holland. I was accepted to the Gerrit Reitveld Academie in The Netherlands in 1999, but took up a position in the marketing department at Carhartt Europe in Germany. Currently I’m completing an honours degree in Communications, with ambitions to go into PHD studies in the near future. Other than that, I don’t have any formal training as such.

What made you decide to start Hijacked? What did you feel was the goal of the magazine?

I was obsessed with returning to Berlin in 2005 after spending time there in 2004, I fell in love with the city. But it wasn’t possible at the time. I was frustrated living in Perth. It was soooo boring and uninspiring. Perth is a contemporary backwater, with no particular global significant. The biggest thing in Western Australia is the mining and resources boom. There are plenty of greedy pigs living here. The goal of Hijacked was to distract me from the thought of living in Perth.

So I just decided to start the Hijacked zine and release some of the tension and the creative frustration. The goal of the zine was to make me rich and famous, though it has failed on both counts. I think the goal was to establish the publication as a magazine or a high quality publication, but it’s still just a zine. Lo-fi, limited edition, independent, xerox'ed, DIY creative project. It’s not a serious publication, though recently I have established my own publishing business - Big City Press. I hooked up with Max Pam (Photographer), Tom Muller (Designer) and Jess Scully (Editor) who are going to help me make Hijacked an international publication of monumental significance. Big City Press and IdN (International Designers Network - www.idnworld.com) are going to co-publish Hijacked - Volume One - Austrailia & America - A photographic special focusing on contemporary Australian and American Photography.

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What does the name “hijacked” refer to? Does hijacking tend to serve as a kind of broad connecting theme for the artists or works that you focus on?

It just refers to the concept of being hijacked. How culture is appropriated by corporations which standardize and compromise the uniqueness and integrity of art. How the media has Hijacked cultural definitions, terms and meaning in contemporary times.

Hijacked has become a working umbrella title for many projects I am doing these days, including a video art exhibition that is currently touring regional Australian Galleries and will include a mini tour in Germany 2008. Starting at the forward thinking Fluctuating Images Gallery in Stuttgart from June 1 – June 22nd 2008. www.fluctuating-images.de Cornelia and Holger Lund are visionaries. Then heading down to Basel, Switzerland for an exposition at Raffael Dörig's Plug In.

Obviously the term Hijacked has direct connotations with all the 9/11, hoo haa… Australian culture is constantly saturated and hijacked by American media trash and entertainment, thanks to the traitor Rupert Murdoch.

The artists and work that we focus on is simply artwork that I appreciate and love to share with others, irregardless of the micro network which I work within.

Are there others factors that impact how you group together the artists that you feature?

No, not consciously. It’s purely intuitive decision making. Whatever flows, is the best solution. Aesthetics are more important than an over conceptual or analytical approach.

If there is enough quality content, then another Hijacked issue is made, and if I find the time and money to print an issue, it happens.  

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Do you try to feature a number of Perth-based artists?

Yes. I think issue 6 was purely West Australian. There are always Perth artists involved in projects I do. Even the Isolated – Funkstörung Triple Media book and DVD that I authored in 2004, featured West Australian artists and video makers.

Do you read other art magazines? How does Hijacked differ from other art-based zines out there?

No, not really, I used to read a few traditional Australian art mags like Artforum, Realtime and Photofile when I worked as a Gallery attendant at The Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, cause there wasn’t much else to do but read… But generally I don’t read many art magazines… though someone told me to check out Juxtapose recently and my publisher told me to check out Matador by Le Fabrica in Madrid. He said it was the bomb, but I haven’t been able to find any copies in Fremantle. So I don’t know what it feels or looks like… I think he was blown away because Matador is doing what Gianni Frinzi wants to do with Hijacked, if that makes sense?

I’m not sure how Hijacked differs from other art based zines… It’s a mystery to me. I live in a kind of bubble down here in Fremantle. I don’t really check out other zines, unfortunately. If I lived in Melbourne, perhaps I could get my zine fix at Sticky, the underground store that specializes in Independent publishing and zines.

Also some one told me there is a site called PDF Mags that features a plethora of pdf magazines which looks pretty cool, although Hijacked was too shit to be featured...