Coalface 2014

Coalface 2014 is our expansive art project that has evolved over two years to talk about coal and its impact on Australian nature. It incorporates sculpture, sound, performance, community engagement, video, a webpage and a greenhouse audit and off-set. 

153 musicians from around the world gave voice to the 153 species of birds found on Bimblebox Nature Refuge, threatened by a gigantic coal mine. Thirty children made drawings of the birds. These collaborative elements can be seen and heard here. Click here to find it.

The soundtrack composed from the musicians’ birdcalls is wired into a sculptural installation. The Coalface mask and Coal-ship-shoes are made from aluminium and recycled auto rubber. Coalface has in its sights, (as video in the eye-sockets), the innocent birds taking water at the old stockyard trough on Bimblebox; and refugee birds’ nests built with human detritus. Performances take place, risky navigation in clumsy vessels. 

The installation Coalface 2014 and our webpages documenting the participation of musicians and children are part of the nationally touring exhibition “Bimblebox: art – science – nature”. 

Coalface performances Manly Art Gallery 1+3 July 2016 Cast in order of appearance:

Coalface Alison Clouston, Tawny Frogmouth Boyd contrabass clarinet, Mistletoebird Tony Gorman alto clarinet, Pied Butcherbird Shawna O’Neill clarinet, Stubble Quail Katrina Fawns alto saxophone, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Paul Cutlan Eb clarinet, Brown Songlark James Nightingale alto saxophone, Singing Bushlark (Horsfield’s) Sandy Evans soprano saxophone, Torresian Crow Ellen Kirkwood trumpet, Grey Shrike-thrush Trevor Brown bass clarinet, Brush Cuckoo Ruth Wells soprano saxophone, Australian Bustard Benjamin Samuels bass clarinet, Noisy Friarbird Melissa Mony alto saxophone.