Alluvial Gold

Solo performance

A 50-minute interdisciplinary performance work that draws audiences into the changing worlds below river surfaces, revealing narratives, materials and ecologies otherwise unseen. Percussion, sculptural instruments, underwater recordings, electronics, lighting and projection are seamlessly combined to create ‘a fine example of Australian eco-artistry’. The human impact on metropolitan rivers inform this work by percussionist Louise Devenish, composer Stuart James and visual artist Erin Coates.

During the European settlement establishments and in the decades that followed, native shellfish reefs within Australian rivers such as the Derbarl Yerrigan (WA) were dredged and ground up for mortar, roads and building materials at sites across the city. Similar histories of dredging, changing estuarine ecology and the impacts of human intervention took place in river systems across southern Australia, particularly in areas used as ports or trading routes following European colonisation.

Alluvial Gold explores multiple narratives connected to rivers, with a focus on the dredging of shellfish reefs, the presence of heavy metals, and changing estuarine ecologies. Sculptural percussion instruments including bronze casts of lead-damaged dolphin bones and circles of sonified oystershell ‘curtains’ fitted with audio sensors, are brought together with vibraphone and sparkling clusters of metal and ceramic percussion to create a tapestry of sonic material. Electronic processing and integration of hydrophone river recordings capturing sounds at the riverbed and surface: air, water and crustacean movements, and shifting algae.

A mysterious world of floating surround sounds that spin off one another envelops the audience, as the space is saturated in a spectacular projection design using syrupy underwater video recorded in the Derbarl Yerrigan. The experience is akin to being underwater, and seeing the world from a different perspective.

REVIEWS

Performance reviews: Resonate [2022] | Arts Hub [2022] | Magazine 6000 [2022] | Seesaw Mag [2021]

Album reviews: Dusted [2024] | MusicWeb International [2024]

ARTICLES

Performance Philosophy [2023] | ECHO [2023] | Music & Practice [2021] | Limelight Cutting Edge [2023]

PERFORMANCES

19 April 2023: New Music Days at Melbourne Recital Centre.

7-8 April 2023: Presented by Four Winds Festival, NSW.

20 - 22 June 2022: Presented by Tura New Music and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (premiere season).

20 June 2022: PICA Artist workshop, ‘Collaborative creativity across visual art and music in Alluvial Gold’.

10-13 February 2021: Perth Festival (pre-premiere season).

ALBUM

New Release on Huddersfield Contemporary Records [2024]. Available to buy here.

OTHER MEDIA

Melbourne Recital Centre’s Digital Season [2023]: Live performance here

Creating New Spaces Podcast [2023]