Swancon 2004
Chronopolis
"Tempus Infinitas."
Held over the Easter weekend, Thursday 8th to Monday 12th April in 2004, at the Parmelia Hilton Hotel on Mill street in Perth. (Note: I have the logo, but nowhere to host it -- CC.)
The Convention
Guests
- GOHs: Tim Powers, Eddie Campbell, Adrian Bedford, Shaun Tan
- Fan Guest, Emma Hawkes
- Invited Guests: John Long, Gary Chaloner
Venue
Parmelia Hilton
Committee
- Convenor, Shay Telfer
- Secretary, Lily Chrywenstrom
- Treasurer, Jeremy Byrne
- Design and Masquerade, Sarah Xu
- Program, Dave Cake
- Academic and Expert Stream, Cathy Cupitt
- Events and PRs, Grant Watson
- Video, Simon Oxwell
- Publications, Anna Hepworth
- Fundraising, Sarah Parker
History
Launch
The launch included: a live presentation; and a multi-media installation, which included a looped video set in the City of Time playing on multiple screens and some other stuff I can't remember.
A group of fans, whose actual names have been lost in the depth of time, considered it their responsibility to introduce Tim Powers to tim-tam biscuits. This was considered especially important given the recent publication of a Powers novel featuring a genie, and the contemporary Tim-Tam advert featuring same. [Paul Andinach]
Prices at Launch
- $50 for First-time membership
- $70 for Unwaged/Concession membership
- $90 for Full membership
In addition, anyone who introduced 3 first-time members to Swancon was eligible for the first-time membership rate (via a rebate subject to the purchase of the 3 first-time memberships).
Extract From the Launch
The theme for our con is ‘The City of Time.’ Because Chronopolis is being held in the City of Time, it isn’t going to be like other Swancons. There are a few things you need to know for your own safety. All of you should have received a passport to Chronopolis—they were provided in your conbags. If you don’t have one, you need to get one from a committee member after the launch.
Your passport allows you to travel throughout Chronopolis and its surrounding times. You should keep it with you whenever you attend a Chronopolis event, such as film screenings, the quiz night, and Chronopolis itself. At these events, you can get your passport stamped. Not only will this provide you with a souvenir of your travels through Chronopolis' time streams, but you can also use your stamped passport to win prizes.
Please be aware that cultures in other temporal junctures may not yet recognise your Chronopolis passport. If you get lost in a time stream, wait for one of the Chronopolis tour guides to find you. And remember: temporal anomalies are all fun and games until someone uncreates their own existence. (Written by Cathy Cupitt, from the script for the launch installation video.)
Publications and Productions
Academic and Expert Stream
Coordinated by Cathy Cupitt.
Keynote Speakers
- John Long—“Vanished giants of Western Australia—A look at some recent new fossil discoveries.”
- Emma Hawles—Rape in the Fourteenth Century.
Academic Papers
- Stephen Dedman—“Son of Strangelove: S.D.I., Star Wars, and other science fiction stories.”
- David Medlen—“The Experienced Far Future of Cordwainer Smith.”
- Tomas Fitzgerald—“From Prehistory to Infinity and Beyond: A 4000 year timeline of Science Fiction and Fantasy.”
- Michael McAvan—“Looking Backwards: Fantasy, Medievalism and Nostalgia.”
- Bron Bateman—“Viggos and Orlis and Seans—Oh My: The Power of the Name in RPS.”
- Darren Jorgensen—“An Engineer's Wet Dream: How to Survive the Destruction of the Universe with Stephen Baxter's Space.”
- Sally Taylor—“Witch Lore of Early Times.”
- Tess Williams—“The Tiptree Carnival: Time plus or minus infinity.”
- Helen Merrick—"What Tiptree didn't tell us: the 'quiet revolution' in (feminist) sf."
- Andrew Williams—“Laymans guide to Special Relativity.”
Expert Stream
- Laurton McGurk: There are fungus among us.
- Penny O’Connor: Heritage Conservation in the 21st Century - The Role of Place in an Increasingly Virtual World
Academic Proceedings
The assigned ISBN for the Masquerade Proceedings:
- ISBN 0-958075-00-X
- Title: Masquerade Swancon 2001 Academic Proceedings
- Edition: 1st
- Author/Contributor: Cupitt, Cathy; Blackford, Russell; Love, Rosaleen; Williams, Tess; Williams, Andrew; Chrulew, Matt
- Date of Publication: 01 Mar 2002
- Price:
- Format: PB
- Size:
- No. of Pages: 74
- Publisher: Western Australian Science Fiction Foundation