The Bullwhip Effect, Zanny Begg
Single Channel Video, 6mins, 2017
The bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, made of braided hide, that was the first human invention to break the sound barrier: when cracked the tip of the whip travels twice as fast as the loop creating a sonic boom used to direct and control livestock across open country. The bullwhip is believed to have evolved from the British hunting whip into a uniquely Australian tool for moving livestock along the travelling stock routes to local and global markets.
The Bullwhip Effect is an economic term used to describe accelerating unpredictability within complex supply chains. Like the movement of the whip, the further from the originating signal the greater the distortion of the wave-patterns, a phenomenon used to illustrate the causes of overproduction and/or shortages. The Bullwhip Effect explores the unpredictability of global trade and its impacts on the Australian landscape.
Commissioned by Joni Taylor, New Landscapes Institute, for the exhibition The Long Paddock, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery.
The Bullwhip Effect stars Emiliqua East, a 17-year-old rising champion of whipcracking, in a video-performance at the Live Stock Exchange, a heritage listed building in East Gipsland, Victoria.
Camera Josh Heath
Audio Jasmine Guffond
Colourist Yanni Kronenburg