Taking audiences underwater, exploring the rich history of the ecology and materials from river systems around Australia, Alluvial Gold looks at what was left behind after years of dredging, changing estuarine ecology, and the impacts of human intervention.
Presented by Tura and PICA, this performance-installation by percussionist Louise Devenish, composer Stuart James and visual artist Erin Coates focuses on the silt, the sand, gravel, and the detritus of river beds, immersing audiences in a visceral drama to the often-forgotten worlds below the surface of the river.
Presented in the performance space of Perth’s home of contemporary art, and developed by a creative team of leading Western Australian contemporary artists, Alluvial Gold exists as art installation and as concert performance. Like many percussion performances, the work is both a visual and aural experience. Each component can be experienced as a piece of visual art in exhibition or as instrumental infrastructure in percussive performance, brought to life with a gripping new set design by one of Perth’s foremost stage designers, Bruce Mckinven.
Alluvial Gold features sculptural percussion instruments of ceramic, bronze, and aluminium, modelled on dolphin bones, native oyster shells and estuarine ecology, including a sonified curtain of oystershell. These are accompanied by underwater video, hydrophone river recordings, and processed audio samples used in combination with a vibraphone, percussion and electronics, weaving a tapestry of sonic material.
Seesaw Magazine described it as “A demonstration of beautifully integrated artistry from three thoughtful and immensely skilled creators.”
Alluvial Gold is on at PICA from 20 – 23 June, with a post-show artist talk on Tuesday 21 June. Tickets are available from PICA.
Workshop for Artists
As part of program, Tura and PICA present a workshop with the presenting artists, Alluvial Gold: Collaborative Creativity Across Visual Art and Sound.
Join us for a workshop exploring the collaboration between visual art and sound with Alluvial Gold artists Dr. Louise Devenish, Dr. Stuart James, and Erin Coates.
In this workshop, the artists will discuss and demonstrate their approach to interdisciplinary collaboration, using examples from Alluvial Gold.
This workshop will be facilitated by Dr Louise Devenish, Dr Stuart James and Erin Coates and is open to artists at any stage of their practice with an interest in cross-disciplinary and hybrid performance.
Alluvial Gold Workshop
11am – 1pm Tuesday 21 June
More information
Tura acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and create. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. With solidarity and friendship we say thank you.
