Exciting news that my Poseidon’s Music Box kinetic solar sculpture will be on exhibition at Woodford Folk Festival this year!
You can also catch it next in Xmas mode at Tugan Lights Up on Sat Dec 1st.
The video is from this year’s Buskers by the Creek, huge thank you to Cindy and the team for letting him spin and busk alongside the other musicians.
Give my page below a like if you want to see the T-Rex I’m currently making.
Guy Cooper Sculptor
I have built a giant solar-powered kinetic music box sculpture to raise funds for #stopAdaniGoldCoast. We had a great weekend down at Buskers by the Creek in Currumbin. A big thanks to Laurinda, Suzette, Matt and Warren from Stop Adani Gold Coast for coming down and helping spread the good word.
#sculpture #sculptor #PoseidonsMusicBox #artsactivsm
EMVEE ART
The new single from the sculpture Poseidon’s Music Box (Guy Cooper Sculptor) is released today! ‘Call to Poseidon’ is a call to the god of the sea Poseidon, to come and save us all from the proposed Adani mine in Queensland. This song uses the melody from the sculpture music box.
https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/0EUiSF7RPnIfoZRE3PwOUl
ALL PROCEEDS FROM THIS SONG ARE GOING TO OUR LOCAL Stop Adani Gold Coast group to continue the fight, so please add, follow, stream and share the song below on Spotify, iTunes and all major distribution channels. (If you want to donate more, you can do so via bandcamp https://humanrecordsau.bandcamp.com/track/call-to-poseidon)
Our own government doesn’t even believe in climate change haha… but we can all do something to help. Here is my latest effort using the skills I have.
I wrote this song for all the hardworking and passionate activists that fight every day in this country to do what is right. Our government has its head up it’s ass and it is up to all of us to do the right thing even if our leaders are more fixated on $ than our futures. Give them love and give them peace. Respect the land and we’ll share the seas. Hello sunrise, goodnight to dark skies.
A huge thank you must also go to the following wonderful local musicians that gave their time to come and collaborate on this beast.
Poseidon’s Music Box Sculpture – Main melody
Nathan Williams (Bowser, Kwerkshoppe, Diana Anaid) – Drums
Luke Reichelt (Reichelt) – Guitar, Vocals
Mickey Van Wyk (Mickey) – Guitar, Vocals
Kirk Mesmer (Sook) – Vocals
Cleo Cottone – Vocals
Steve Williamson – Vocals
Michael Simms (My Inner Hyde) – Vocals
Scott Saunders – Vocals
Ike Campbell – Vocals
Kara Towner – Vocals
Gold Coast Home of the Arts HOTA Choir including – Joan Ellerby, Ann Whitlow, Tiffany Storey, Linda Robertus, Carolyn Parker, Christina Tan, Frances Cummins, Katherine Edwards, Chrissy Carter, Gabrielle Vining, Allison Forner, Suzette Sheperd, Karen Millar, Marta Kashyrina, Laka Selby, Vera Thomson, Lynne Ohehir, John Ohehir, Susan Merritt, Nerida Sayer, Cheryl Wheeler, Kiki Loch-Wilkinson, Janet Cahill, Carla Dalton, Fiona Hollinger.
and myself Guy Cooper (Charlie Rebel, Mickey, Sook, Reichelt, Too Right Mate) – Lyrics/Melody, vocals, piano, organ, bass, percussion, violin.
Patterns and connections can be found in nature everywhere we look; the cylindrical motion of life is seen on a large scale in our solar system and in the smallest cycle of growth and rebirth on our planet. Nowhere is this seen more so than the in coral reef systems and our own Great Barrier Reef. The advancement the industrial revolution has impacted the planet in many ways, as we fight to keep our planet growing, humans need to find a way for life and our construct to grow together.
May this coral themed music box call the god of the sea Poseidon to come save us all.
Local Gold Coast artist, sculptor, musician and producer Guy Cooper has built a giant solar-powered, kinetic, Poseidon themed, music box sculpture to help raise awareness of the crisis our Great Barrier Reef is facing and to call for an end to coal mining and the proposed Adani mine in Australia. The giant music box will be on display in October at the annual Buskers by the Creek festival in Currumbin, Oct 13th and 14th.
Guy won both the Environmental Awareness award and the People’s Choice award at the 2017 Swell Sculpture festival on the Gold Coast for his 1:1 scale kinetic wind harp of Migaloo the white whale. The harp is the largest steel bodied string harp in the world, powered by the wind it currently sits in Ashmore on Mr Cooper’s front lawn and google maps as the ‘Big White Whale’. Guy has created the new sculpture as an arts activism piece and functioning music box to call the god of the sea, Poseidon to come and save us all from the proposed Adani Carmichael coal mine in Queensland.
Mr Cooper says that,
“Patterns and connections can be found in nature everywhere we look; the cylindrical motion of life is seen on a large scale in our solar system and in the smallest cycle of growth and rebirth on our planet. Nowhere is this seen more so than the in coral reef systems and our own Great Barrier Reef. The advancement the industrial revolution has impacted the planet in many ways, as we fight to keep our planet growing, we need to find a sustainable way for life and our construct to grow together. Our government is not making decisions that benefit all our futures and we need to do something about it. May this coral themed music box call upon the god of the sea Poseidon to come save us all.”
Combined with the sculpture is also a song that will be released on Oct 10th entitled ‘Call to Poseidon’. (Spotify link https://open.spotify.com/album/0EUiSF7RPnIfoZRE3PwOUl?si=XZN3znWMThKCrl4ImiVFYA)The song combines the melody from the music box along with 30+ local musicians, including members of the Gold Coast Home of the Arts choir calling on Poseidon and sharing some love for the cause. Guy is more well known as the owner of the Gold Coast based record label Human Records, music producer and composer for Serotonin Productions and as a musician in a variety of local bands including punk activists Charlie Rebel. He says the song is a thank you to all the protesters and passionate activists who give their time and effort to help make our world a better place. The creation and public display of the Poseidon’s Music Box sculpture aims to bring awareness and along with the song, raise funds to help fight the proposed Adani coal mine. All the proceeds from the sculpture and song will be going to a cause Guy is passionate about, the local #StopAdaniGoldCoast group to help continue the fight.
You can be one of the first to see the music box sculpture in action down at Buskers by the Creek in October. The artist is asking people visiting the sculpture to please take a photo and tag #PoseidonsMusicBox and #CoralNotCoal in your post. Along with your short message about how this sculpture makes you feel or what you think needs to happen to flight climate change and help save the largest living organism on the planet.
The sculpture itself besides being a giant sustainable spinning music box is based on coral formations, sacred geometry and lunar cycles. It lights up at night time with 273 LED lights all powered by the inbuilt recycled solar system. With an honors degree from the Conservatorium of Music, a physics degree in Astrobiology and now masters in Creative Industries, the sustainably powered music box sculpture is a combination of all of artist Guy Cooper’s passions. Guy collaborated with friend, fellow musician and painter Mickey Van Wyk from Emvee Art for the coral patterns on the sculptures arms and vocals on the song.
Guy believes that it is up to all of us to do something, the struggle between big business, coal mining and the environmental concerns of the people has long been a concern for many Australians. The Great Barrier Reef has experienced a decline of over 50% due to coral bleaching since the 1990’s and is hitting a critical point with the loss of this diverse ecosystem.
Comprised of over 3000 individual reef systems, the Australian Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It is larger than the Great Wall of China and is the only living thing on earth visible from space (Australia’s Great Natural Wonder, 2017). The entire living organism contains some of the most diverse collections of marine life on the planet. It is the largest living structure on the planet, and resides in Australia’s own backyard. The tourism value alone generated by the Great Barrier Reef is said to be over 6.4 billion dollars each year.\
The continued mining expansion and burning of coal and fossil fuels are directly connected to the loss of this natural ecosystem. The Great Barrier Reef has experienced a decline in size of more than 50% due to coral bleaching since the 1990’s and is now reaching a critical point. Coral bleaching is caused by unusually high water temperature which is becoming more and more frequent with human induced climate change. The proposed Adani mine will be one of the largest coal mines in the world. It is estimated that the mining and burning of coal from the mine will generate 4.7 billion tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over its proposed 60-year operation. This is “among the highest emissions from a single project anywhere in the world. The GHG emissions from the mine thus represent a significant contribution to global GHG emissions and therefore to human-caused climate change.” (Veyron, 2017).
For more info head to http://www.guycooper.com.au/poseidon
The construction of the main frame is almost complete, it has been a monster effort to get all the dimensions accurate enough for the whole structure to spin and be balanced enough to serve as a musical instrument. I thoroughly enjoy the kinetic aspect of the sculpture, I’m not sure I would be as satisfied with a stationary sculpture and I love the whole piece almost breathing and moving powered by solar energy in this case, but wind or any sustainable energy source. My welding skills have greatly increased on this piece and although Im still learning as I go, burning myself slightly and setting a few things on fire, my welds are becoming cleaner and most structurally sound. I am on track and hope to have the main structure finished this week so I can move onto the paint and decorations.
The motor and gears have been a little bit of a struggle, I have unfortunately burnt out a few motors and have finally settled on a lower powered, but higher RPM drive that I will gear down to the main axle. The electronic components have been the easier aspect of the whole piece and the main solar inverter, timers, gear switches and lighting controllers were all done in a couple of hours as seen in the above pics. The sculpture will be set to rotate from 6am until 12 midnight for 18hrs of 2amps (36amps/day) and the lighting from 6pm until midnight for 6hrs of 5amps (30amps/day). This will give me 66amps of power needed a day and with the 120watts of solar panels and the 132amphour battery, more than enough power to balance out any cloudy days.
One of the biggest things that has been on my mind while constructing the main piece has been the covering of the outer arms. The inner arm will be covered in succulent plants, giving the appearance of colourful coral and life, but I wanted to have the outer arms really explaining the purpose and theme of the sculpture by having the contrast of life and death of coral due to the climate change and directly coal mining. So my thoughts have been moved towards a black and white theme. Black coal wall on one side and bleached white coral wall on the other. As the sculpture rotates, the black and white surfaces of each of the six arms will display themselves to the viewer giving the appearance of life and death in cycles.
How to achieve this has been the biggest issue, I have gone through several options for the coal wall, including fake rock walls, pebble create, styrofoam painted and was even playing with the idea of having a printed 2d photo of coal and coral that would be mounted on the outside of the arm. I really feel that this would be a bit ineffective and wanted to have it be 3d and textual to express the feeling better for the viewer. I have finally settled on finding some charcoal that I will break up and glue onto a flat surface. This is ideal as it is lightweight and looks exactly like coal in texture and reflection.
For the bleached coral wall, I am at this stage going to either find or mould some fake coral pieces and paint them white. I feel like this stage of the decoration could be time-consuming, so I have been calling on some arty friends to help with this in a couple of weeks, once I’m ready to put it all together.
The whole theme of the sculpture is ocean themed and attempting to make the sculpture appear as it had come from under the ocean in Poseidon’s kingdom while being on land has been a big thought. I believe I can achieve most of this via paint and coverings. My fear is though that I don’t want it to look like a kindergarten class has glued plastic sea turtles all over it. I have a collection of shells, barnacles and ocean life creatures that I will be covering the main body in once all the other aspects are attached with the aid of some advice from my friends. I am leaning towards a black and white main body with deep blue and gold leaf veins running around the structure to make it appear like it has lived it’s life under the ocean. The arm that will be holding the chimes will also be fashioned like Poseidon’s trident and sticking out from the top at an angle.
I have been playing around with the music score for the actual sculpture melody and the full song for the past month or so and have decided on the Ab Major/F minor key for the bulk of the composition. I wanted the score to be happy and positive along with the lyrics, but to also incorporate some off-putting sense that the reef is dying too. The following playlist has a few of the refined compositions and my preferred ones are 04 and 07. The 07 V3 is a combination of both the 04 and 07 loops with a basic structure of the song. I could add a lot of layers, but I’ll work out the basic structure and main melody and then leave the song open for collaboration with a bunch of local musicians. I have about 30+ players available from 20+ bands I’ve approached and it will all happen fairly fast towards the end of this month. I want the actual sculpture playing the melody before I lay down anything solid for the popular music song.
Finally, with so many things going on recently with the sculpture (I have put in 250 hours of work in the past 4 weeks), I decided to take a break and head to GOMA in Brisbane to take in some other sculptures and artwork to clear my mind. It was a nice weekend and the trip on the train proved to be as meditative as the gallery itself. Also actively taking the time provided some reflection on the whole process and a reaffirmation of what I want to achieve.
As I am getting closer to having the sculpture finished I have revisited the public launch aspects and connecting the sculpture with the community to serve a public purpose. I have contacted HOTA (Gold Coast Home of the Arts) and also The Dust Temple (Currumbin art gallery) and both have expressed very positive interest in having the sculpture at their galleries. I think at this stage I will go with both of these to start and then move onto some other sculpture festivals once I have the masters submitted. I am aware of not putting myself out too much with the transport of the sculpture and allowing myself enough time to work on the written exegesis.
I have been keeping up with the news articles and progress of the overall cause of #StopAdani and the coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef. The local Gold Coast #StopAdaniGoldCoast crew are keen to be included in the sculpture and at the very least their hashtag will be on the panelling at the base of the sculpture. This sculpture is also a lot easier to transport so I will be able to set it up within an hour and bring it to some of the events they have coming up, protests and other.
I have also connected with the https://fortheloveof.org.au/ (For the Love of the Reef) movement and will be incorporating this into the sculpture.
https://fortheloveofthereef.raisely.com/guycooper
“I’m constructing a giant kinetic, solar powered coral shaped music box to help raise awareness and funds to fight Adani and to help protect our Great Barrier Reef. I believe it is all of our responsibility to fight for a sustainable future, our government certainly isn’t being responsible, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do what we feel is right.
http://www.guycooper.com.au/poseidon/”
Some recent articles of interest.
Construction has begun and figuring out where my focus is.
Throughout the last trimester I have been exploring more theoretical aspects of the sculpture I am creating and thinking more about the ‘purpose’, the why of the physical art and what it can help achieve. The focus was initially based on my own meditative and creative output, exploring the engineering fabrication aspects and design aspects for my own personal education and exploration. Having a creative outlet that was separate from my music and production work to help me relax more. Music hasn’t become a chore, I love it, but my whole life is consumed by musical projects. I think I do a lot of the video, photography and media management work not only to further the music we create, but also to fulfill my desire to explore more art forms.
The construction of sculptures has been exciting, learning how to weld and being able to create what it in my mind without the restraint of not knowing how to physically make it work and put it into action. Through this ‘sculpting career’ move, I have also become more aware of the effect of public art on people and how what I create can affect and inspire the people around me. I saw this in reflection on the ‘Migaloo’s Song’ sculpture last year. I went into it for myself, wanting to build this thing I had an idea for, but I came out at the end with a sea of people I affected with the design and construction of the large-scale machine. The wonderment of the actual object functioning was one thing, but the inspiration that anyone could just buy a welder and make this thing created sense of joy in so many of my friends. Everyone wanted to be a part of it and I had lots of friends wanting to come help make it and the song. A side result apart from the awards and self-fulfillment was the direct inspiration for 4 friends who directly told me that me undertaking the sculpture and achieving it (as well as sharing it online in videos and posts) helped them to overcome the fear of starting a new art form or dream they had always avoided because of insecurity. It also directly affected 2 young Gold Coast school students whom I sponsored with some of the prize money to build their own sculptures for this year’s festival. I didn’t see this effect at the start of the project in Jan 2017, but it’s becoming clearer to me this year. What I could measure though was the effect it also had on the public that saw the sculpture, I wasn’t aware and/or wasn’t concerned with that. Mostly due to the fact that I didn’t even know if I could do it and if I’d be happy with the final result, adding the pressure of making others happy with the result or affecting change would have made it too stressful for me. This year is different though, I have a lot more confidence in the process and now that I have a good model for how the whole situation of designing, building and showcasing public art works, I am keen to create a more defined outcome for the public viewing the piece in addition to my own satisfaction.
So, I want to explore the effect of the audiences sensory and emotional reaction to the sculpture and in turn how public art can help encourage or change or affect the public’s perception on a particular topic. It might not even be a direct actionable response as I had initially suggested a month ago, but may be a change or mindset or a trigger or catalyst for their thinking and this is where I think public art has a purpose.
As I start to propose a question for my final exegesis, I would like to fulfill the following things.
I will come back to the question, but to start getting the ideas out at this stage perhaps something like,
How can public art create and inspire emotional and change in thinking and philosophical issues?
To help explore the topics above throughout the process of this masters and the sculpture, I am creating an action plan to map out the phases and timeline of both the sculpture design and construction and also the milestones to reflect on the affective qualities and goals of the final piece in relation to an audience. While the Swell Sculpture Festival on the Gold Coast in Sept 2018 creates a deadline and an initial public display and audience, it is not the sole destination, but instead I think that it is an example of public art display.
Action Plan
Here’s how I have practiced in the past (detailed review of how I did Migaloo)
VS
How I am going to go about making this one, what is different. Looking at my practice as if it is brand new.
To do this I need to become more critically aware of decisions on my way and make sure that I document them as much as the actual construction process. I need to be able to look back at where I’ve come through my own research so far with regards to sound sculpture. Some of the cycles reflection will be practical construction, some will be on the research and what I have learned.
What is measurable action research?
Here’s how I have practiced on the Migaloo’s Song sculpture.
For my initial sculpture last year, I was much more concerned with the actual construction process and simply achieving it for myself. Part of this selfish focus was to remove any excess stress from the project as I didn’t need to do it all in the first place and I was going through chemo at the time. There was probably part of it where I recognized if I put the focus on self development and fulfillment than I could avoid insecurity and fear of judgement from others in the art and sculpture scene as it was a new art form to me and this fear is usually what stops most creative people from undertaking new works.
The sculpture last year started with a 2 month long design process in Dec 2016-Jan 2017, the whale started out as a geometric pattern of strings and plucking parts to a wave made of strings, then a hammerhead shark with strings long ways and ended up being a humpback whale. All three (and the other side tangent designs) were related to sound and music, it was clear to me from the early stage that I was interested in creating sculptures that combined sound, acoustics and music, though it was another 16 months until I discovered the term ‘Sound Sculpture’. I had also just finished an Physics degree in Astrobiology that saw me fixated on the connection of frequency and vibrational wave theory in the development of life in our universe.
Throughout the ‘Migaloo’s Song’ design and construction I was aware and making decisions on the piece based not only on my own interest, but on how it would look and sound to an audience. I think 20 yrs in the music industry has taught me that there is nothing wrong with making music or art that is self-satisfying, but considering how the audience will react or take in the art is also an important skill to have. I think this is where the sculpture moved from being simply a geometric combination of parts to another living creature that would encourage people to ponder the connection between nature and us as humans though music and sound. The following was my artist statement for ‘Migaloo’s Song’ from Jan 2017 before I had begun construction.
Sound and music follows a harmonic structure like that found in nature. There’s connection to our organic world utilizing acoustics & science, to create harmony with our surroundings. Sound is an auditory perception of the brains response to vibrational patterns observed by our bodies. The combination of art, design and psychoacoustics creates a hidden link that resonates between nature and all life. Humpback whales are described as ‘inveterate composers’ of songs that are ‘strikingly similar’ to human musical traditions, a kinship we share with these mammals and a shared language. – Guy Cooper / Migaloo’s Song
For that sculpture I think there was a decent amount of thought that went into the design and construct of creating some response in the audience, a purpose and connection for the sculpture at the start of the design process. But as the actual construction begun, I focused soley on the fabrication and it wasn’t until it was finished (3 days before swell haha) that I came full circle and started to revisit the extra elements of actionable response in the audience. This was achieved in a small way with the press releases and the song I wrote using the harp and a collection of local artists supporting me on the track.
Press Release Sept 2017 – https://www.dropbox.com/s/um0tc3oxxjtpq59/Guy%20Cooper%20-%20Migaloo%27s%20Song%20Media%20Release.pdf?dl=0
https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/7f862NkJeucPguLSLYj2yF
There was a lot of reflective moments in regards to the construction, visual appearance and sound of the harp. Every 4-7 days when I had created a new aspect or failed to construct what I had in my mind, I sat down and reflected on the sculpture. Sometimes it was a forced moment of reflection as my body wasn’t physically able to move or stand up, somedays spent in chemo my mind was redesigning the construction, welding, joints and parts perhaps as a way of distraction from the depressing scenes and news in the hospitals. These moments of reflection and meditation were private and personal, in my head only, I didn’t document them or talk about them with others. It was enjoyable for me to not have to discuss them with others, part of the project was something I could just do myself without having to check and manage multiple other opinions, suggestions and needs. The downside of this is that I have developed a better method of working through the creation process to achieve an outcome, but I don’t have any way of easily explaining this process to others. This did occur to me in 2017 through the process, but I honestly didn’t care as it was just for me, at the time I needed to focus on myself to get through everything that was happening.
So this year I will be using this masters course to improve on the process and outcome and also to find a better way to document and explain the process to others and myself.
What Have I done so far and what needs to happen?
Design
I have already begun the design and construction process for ‘Poseidon’s Music Box’. The design started with a combination of research into sound sculpture and geometric design, sound and nature based physics. I had initially wanted to created a sculpture of dying bleached coral using organ pipes, a droning graveyard that re-enforced the environmental issue of coal mining and its direct connection to climate change and the death of the Great Barrier Reef. I would consider myself an environmentalist, there are so many issues with the world, capitalism, greed, violence, poverty, evil motives… lets not get into those, I want to focus on something that I can change. While I work with helping the homeless on the Gold Coast, building a $5,000 whale harp from steel is not the most helpful thing for the homeless.
The design for ‘Poseidon’s Music Box’ begun on Pinterest collecting pictures from the internet and also my own photography with visual design elements that embodied the theme of coral, music, sound, mining and climate change. The concept of having coral out of its ocean environment and on the land, took me towards the succulent plant life which I have always thought looks like land coral. I have a large garden where I spend my time relaxing and meditating and the I have always been fascinated by the geometric patterns in plants and particularly succulent plants. I decided I wanted to create a large scale coral piece that mirrored the underwater coral, but was manmade, this would help explain the concept that our natural coral is dying and one day all we may have is manmade coral to remember what the coral used to look like. The concept also brought the coral issue to the people on the land, not everyone gets the opportunity to go to the reef and dive or snorkel to see the beauty and in turn effect of coral bleaching and death from climate change. I think this is the same concept as ‘Migaloo’s Song’, bringing the 1:1 size and majesty of the humpback whale to the land, so standing next to them you can see and feel the awe of the scale.
I also wanted to include some music, not just sounds, but a music piece into the sculpture. The more I research this I find it is less ‘Sound Sculpture’ and more satisfying my interest in marvelous machines. From music boxes to Da-Vinci, perpetual ball bearing machines and orchestrion’s.
A more recent example would be something like the Wintergatan, which is amazing, but has no context to me, its just a big ass amazing machine that sort of makes music.
With all this in mind, I spent 2 months again drawing and collecting large scale and macro images and building different designs in my head. I decided early on I wanted to use chime or steel tubes to generate the musical elements instead of strings this time in order to create something more permeant and all weather. The designs ended up closer to the final concept of Poseidon’s Music Box below.
More design and reflection needs to happen as the project continues. Practical concerns arise as the construction begins that require the concept design to be altered along the way. I want to try and document this as much as possible. There also needs to be a reflection on the design at each stage for simple aesthetic purposes and as my understanding of what I want to achieve with the final piece become more clear.
Construction
The construction process is fun and unknown, perhaps it is the unknown factor that makes it fun for me. Part of the desire to create sculptures is that I don’t know how to physically do it and I enjoy a challenge. I do a lot of things in my life, I have too many jobs, but I have always enjoyed doing different things, I sleep less than most people and life is too short to sit around and not get off your ass and do what makes you happy. My time with thousands of musicians, artists, 17 years of lecturing and teaching artists, has taught me that most people never overcome the fear of judgment from being creative. Its sad and depressing to see people trapped in their own minds from fears and insecurities. I have always made it my goal to change this people, I do it for my friends and my students. I have found my purpose in a lot of ways is a catalyst. Either through my words or my actions, it’s what my label does and I can see that effect I have on people in every one of my jobs.
The construction for me is a mountain to climb, it started with sculpture in 2017 where I wanted to learn how to work with metal. Wood was easy and I have built more than enough things (studios, decks, furniture) from wood, but metal was always a disaster for me. I wanted to learn how to weld and overcome the barrier to construct bigger things from steel. I have always been fascinated by steel sculptures that mimicked natural animals and life and wanted to learn to weld steel. It was probably my retirement plan to help me transition from running my businesses into stopping work and relaxing, but when it looked life I wasn’t maybe going to make it that far with the cancer and T1 diabetes, I got up and went and bought a welder. Terrible things and bad times have always snapped me into action, you can sit there and let it drag you into depression, or you can snap yourself out of it and take control of your life.
So the process of learning to weld was watching some YouTube videos and making mistakes. It’s more enjoyable for me to learn through the process and ‘Migaloo’s Song’ has all my first welds. I probably should of started with something smaller, but hey, where’s the fun in that!
For Poseidon’s Music Box, I can easily see the improvement in welding, planning and machinery. I have suppliers for steel, baring’s, gears, motors, solar and renewable energy and I have a much better understanding of the engineering requirements and the bending moments and sheer forces of steel and aluminum. I have had some fabrication advice this year from other sculptors I met through the process last year and also tradies at the supply shops. My welds are cleaner, stronger and the process is much quicker now, I’m also not physically disabled this year being off chemo and have my strength back.
I think the design and construction are combined, you can’t just design whatever you want, physical and logistical restraints need to be considered along with the design aesthetics. For me the construction is simply looking at the physical building and engineering process, but I think I will combine the design research and outcome aesthetics into the construction discussion for the months to come.
Reflection on process and research.
What do I want to know next?
Through this masters course, my direction on what I want to explore has changed and I expect it will continue to do, but each time I’m getting closer to a more defined goal. I feel like I’m spiraling, but spiraling inwards towards a central point that has clarity on what I think and feel. A month or two ago I was focused on sound sculpture and then on art activism, both of which describe what I do and what I want, but as I look at focusing my attention to a more measureable goal and exegesis question, I find that both of those aspects can be discussed with more final intent by applying what I do to the topic of how public art can affect people’s emotions and thinking.
I don’t want to go into this too much right now, I think this is going to be my main topic for the weeks to come and I want to dive into the case study on the action research cycles first so that when I explore the topic more deeply I’m coming at it with more framework for the aspects I need to focus on.
Public art (for the weeks to come)
Basic Action Plan
Jan 2018
Feb
March
April
May
(I will be on tour in japan for most of May with two different bands, so I will use this month as more research and reflection)
June
July
Aug
Sept
I will start to the use the information above to mold a method around creating a repeatable process that can be modified and therefore create a model that can be measured. I will find this by looking at other models, which is where the next goal of creating a case study for the action research cycles and visual ethnography will help.
https://www.facebook.com/guycoopersculptor/
Continuing from my 2017 sound sculpture Migaloo’s Song (Cooper, G. 2017) I intend to design and build a large-scale sound sculpture music box, with a pre-sequenced progression of chimes that will be entered into the 2018 Swell Sculpture Festival on the Gold Coast. The sculpture will be based on coral formations, creating a large moving kinetic man-made coral piece out of steel, mirrors and succulent plant life called ‘Poseidon’s Music Box’.
I will take design cues from both coral and succulent formations and integrate the music box parts into the design. The whole sculpture will be silver, black and contain some surfaces covered in mirrors and succulent plants, helping to blend the man-made and natural elements in the sculpture. The whole structure will be powered by solar renewable energy to turn the music-box and light the structure at night time.
The piece of music generated from the sculpture will be relaxing in contrast to the social noise and chatter of the approximately 15,000 patrons visiting the Swell Sculpture Festival every day in September.
As I progress with my sculpture work, I am setting myself up with a profile of kinetic sound sculptures and geometric design work based on mathematical and patterns found in nature. My previous work ‘Migaloo’s Song’ was based on the Fibonacci Sequence with a series of circles and the song was composed to mimic and coincide to the humpback whale songs. This coral formation sculpture is based on regular quadrilaterals (squares), the rhombus, dihedral groups and will following the design cues from both coral formations, microbial life and succulent plant life.
(my sculpture concept video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jG60R8_QZY)
My interest in the construction of musical instruments has always been based on the physics of sound and acoustics and my interest in sculpting and ‘Sound Sculpture’ has been developed through my collection of music boxes and Leonardo DaVinci inspired machines over the years. I see the concept of moving towards sculpture and sound sculpture more of an addition from my music career, rather than a new field. I am not overly interested in simply creating sculptures, but more so incorporating music composition, music technology and acoustics into sculpture.
Rather than simply creating sonic environments, my interests are in musical elements and scores to be integrated into the sculptures using my background in acoustics, physics and as a musician, composer and producer.
The connection with natural elements and environmental activism is also important to me, mimicking and taking cues from nature in design and recreating these repeating patterns in my design, while attempting to enact some change and awareness in the audience in relation to the environment.
Overall the sculpture has a few aspects, but the integration of sound sculpture work in the form of a playing musical score, powered by renewable energy approaches the topic from the basis of an environmental statement against coal mining and directly how it is affecting our great barrier reef. Bringing the coral bleaching issue to the audience and making a bold connection between the coal mining in Australia.
The sculpture will be powered by recycled renewable solar energy, showing some solutions available to solve our energy crisis and avoid the reef system being killed by the use of fossil fuels and in turn climate change. In direct response to our government’s statements that renewable energy is noisy and ugly, I will also be showing that a renewable energy device can be aesthetically beautiful, fitting into the landscape down by the beach at Currumbin on the Gold Coast and sound musically pleasing while generating energy. I will also be able to use the power generated to run some LED screens that explain the issues we are facing with mining in this country and what people can do to help push our government towards renewable energy.
What I have recently found through research and exploration of the field of ‘Sound Sculpture’ is the importance of environment and audience in relation to the pieces. This aspect reappears constantly in the discussion of ‘Sound Sculpture’.
Ros Bandt discusses the location and environment of sound sculptures in relation to the audience as one of the important defining factors in his 1991 journal on ‘Public Interactive Sound Sculpture’ (Bandt. Ros, 1991). The concept that the recorded and performance-based music world is often stationary and inanimate, situated in concert halls or in front of a stereo system. He suggests that Sound Sculpture can allow participation from the listener and respects the listener as a creative participant.
The practice of sculpture for myself is based on engineering, mechanics and musical acoustics, although the aesthetic design space is integral to my creations. I have always taken cues from nature and my surroundings and I am fascinated by the geometric designs in nature from the microscopic through to the planetary evolution and forces that shape them. My interest in the biology of life and its combination with physics has been reinforced through my Astrobiology work and I have a drive to recreate this in my sculptures. The fabrication and construction work with my hands also provides a meditative practice for me and allows me to rest mentally.
For art curator Shannon Galpin, the importance of public art, is that it can bring art outside the galleries and place it in our everyday lives (Galpin, S. 2014). Inspiring and invoking change, illuminating activism and the spirt of hope in the public as they engage with it visually set amongst our everyday environment. Public art can surround us and create conversations and controversy, it forces us to have an opinion as we try to understand it’s purpose, starting a two-way conversation. Public art can reach people that may not have previously engaged with art and change their perceptions on certain topics, amplifying the voice of the artist.
The sculpture while fitting into the ‘Sound Sculpture’ field will be a machine that creates wonderment and curiosity in the audience. This in turn helps bring the viewer into understanding the concept behind the art and to draw their own conclusions from the visual and auditory stimulation. The concepts of climate change in relation to mining and the environment are common knowledge and it is my hope that the audience will connect this from their viewing of the piece.
The sculpture and the research attached to the design and implementation will help to contribute to a broader body of knowledge for future sound sculptors and art activists. Through my research and ideation of this project, I will be documenting and providing insight into my processes and perspectives on both the art design aspects and how I intend to integrate the environmental activism outcomes through my art.
The artist Sanaz Mazinani in his ‘Art + Activism’ video (Mazinani, S. 2015) talks about the significance of the artist’s identity and how it becomes as important as the work itself, the understanding of the perspective in which we come from, defines the context of the work and possibly through understanding and education we can better derive a foundation for our own art. Through my work with this piece I hope to provide a case study for others to better work through their own perspectives and how to integrate their intensions into their own art. I would like to ask what is the world like today when you created your art? and how can there be a potential for change through your art?
The medium of sculpture itself, the physical art space, creates a relationship between the artist’s perspective and intension and the viewer. This physical creation forms spaces for conversation and exchange, a new narrative can be formed that engages the viewer to think about the topic of climate change and how their actions are affecting the living organisms that form the coral reefs.
I will be attempting to use sound sculpture and my creative practice to create a new narrative on the topic of climate change, A new set of questions to ask the audience through my art.
Thelma Golden expresses that art can be used to create a new narrative in her presentation ‘How art gives shape to cultural change’ VIDEO 1:55
“I was interested in why and how I could create a new story, a new narrative in art history and in the world, and to do this I knew that I had to see the way that artists work, understand the artist studio as a laboratory, imagine then reinventing the museum as a think tank and looking at the exhibition as the ultimate white paper, asking questions, providing the space to look and think about answers.” (Golden, T. 2013)
I intend to engage my role as an artist to be a catalyst for this discussion, my intension is for my role to not simply be a content provider, but as a catalyst for change in thought processes and then in direct action.
Marcus Ellsworth also believes that art has a powerful role to play in creating change and connecting people with a new truth on an existing topic. In his 2014 TEDx talk ‘Art as activism’ (Ellsworth, M. 2014) he explains that art is a bringer of change, it has a way of connecting people, inspiring, motivating and moving people’s opinions. That we can use our art to express our truth and enact some change. I see my sculpture work as a chance to get out and tell my truth, unapologetically and without censoring myself to make the world a better place.
Dr Tammy Brown suggests the role of art in pushing for freedom, using art to educate and uplift in her video presentation ‘Art is a weapon for social change’.
“Art has the power to counteract and transcend racism, sexism, classism or any other ism that comes to mind.” (Brown, T. 2014)
Socially and politically engaged art strives to provide a counterpoint to the prevailing images of power and the stereotypes that are fed to us by the media on topics such as democracy, civil and human rights, capitalism and the environment. I suggest that all art is in sense political, as it is about a person’s views and freedom to act, freedom to express ourselves, art is about taking a position and encouraging others to feel that same emotion.
So how can I make a difference to the environment and climate change with the music in my sculpture? While there have been many commercial attempts to raise awareness and funds for the environment and climate change from famous musical artists using their presence to encourage others to take up arms, I intend to focus on my own local neighborhood. Expecting a reach globally is over-ambitious, so I intend to put my efforts towards enacting change in the audiences that will experience the sculpture first hand at the Swell Sculpture Festival in September 2018 on the Gold Coast, with an expected audience of 200,000 people.
There is a large collective of artists on the Gold Coast and Northern NSW and I intend to use my sculpture work to create a collective network of artists that can help drive a more direct change in our local governments thinking in relation to power consumption and renewable energy.
As an artist it is Important for me to have a voice, to be able to express myself, most artists I have met are driven to do this, to share their emotions with the world. Oscar Wilde was quoted in saying that “All art is quite useless”, while he was most likely being glib, I believe it is simply finding purpose or understanding in art that defines it’s use. Art allows for something that cannot be defined easily, it is difficult to quantify or qualify how anyone person will see your art or predict the ways in which it will affect people. In contradiction to Oscar Wilde, Friedrich Nietzsche said that “We have art in order not to perish from the truth”, I think that art has the ability to take from the past and present and help define what is now and how the future can be.
In Wilson’s 2016 article on ‘The Purpose of Art’, he quotes British artist Anthony Gormley in relation to art.
“Art is about one person’s expectation of and their use of their own freedom to act.” (Wilson, M. 2016)
Wilson also quotes composer Paul O’Neil in relation to great art and emotional response.
“The purpose of art is to create an emotional response in the person that is exposed to that art. And there are three categories of art; bad art, good art and great art. Bad art will elicit no emotional response in the person that is exposed to it, i.e.; a song you hear in an elevator and it does nothing to you, a picture on a wall that gives you the same emotional response as if the wall had been blank, a movie that chews up time. Good art will make you feel an emotion that you have felt before; you see a picture of a forest and you remember the last time you went fishing with your dad, you hear a song about love and you remember the last time you were in love. Great art will make you feel an emotion you have never felt before; seeing the pieta, the world-famous sculpture by Michelangelo, can cause someone to feel the pain of losing a child even if they’ve never had one.” (Wilson, M. 2016)
Perhaps then the best art should ask you what you think, prompt you to ask questions and put you into doubt. Katerina Gregos (Gregos, K. 2014) suggests that
“Art cracks open cemented opinions and challenges the given. It moves beyond the expected and the known and functions as the conscious of society” it gives voice to the other. “Art highlights important ideas, problems and issues that are sidelined or silenced due to political or economic interests. Art functions as the barometer of society, as a moral or intellectual resistance.”
In her TEDx talk she presents the following ideas,
“Art thinks about the world in its current state and reimagines it as it should be. More importantly, Art is the last frontier of unregulated free expression which is particularly important at a time when the commons public space and information are increasingly being privatized and regulated by the “Neo-liberal” order. In that sense, art is born of and advocates freedom. Artists always see a world full of opportunities, chances, potentials, possibilities and prospects, their ability to go beyond the possible and into the imaginable, should be an example and inspiration for us all.” (Gregos, K. 2014)
In direct relation to my art as ‘Sound Sculpture’, Georgina Born discusses the extension of sound installation art in her book ‘Music, sound and space transformations of public and private experience’.
“The emergence of sound installation art in the second half of the twentieth century reflects fundamental shifts within multiple arenas: conceptions of space and space–time; the ascendancy of site within the aural imagination; the extension of music and sonic arts into expanded sculptural and architectural models; and the role of the public in relation to aesthetic experience.” (Born, G. 2013)
And Niels Van Tomme discusses the added importance of sound art in his article ‘Radical Sound Activism’.
“What is it about sound that is actually able to register a type of critique that may be different from vision, for example? There is a certain kind of intimacy with sound; it moves through time; it does in fact register the evolution and the layering of ideas.” (Van Tomme, N. 2009)
He also goes on to say that,
“It is valuable that people become aware of the emotional relations they have to themselves, to each other and to the conditions they are experiencing. That affective level becomes a form of analysis; it is by registering those things that you are also able to have an additional level of critical reflection.” (Van Tomme, N. 2009)
I would suggest that my work with sound sculpture can also blur the line between activism and art by interrogating the environment and politics that relate to my community. Creating interest through the use of sound and music within my sculpture will bring more interest and create a deeper need for understanding the piece. Making art is bringing something to the world, and sound sculpture is combining music and physical form in the guise of wonderment.
My own searches for works relating or being called ‘Sound Sculptures’ have found works that can either generate sound and sonic textures including ‘noise’ or un-harmonious sound) such as the ‘Aeolus’ (K. 2011), works that are machines and ‘perform’ structured or pitched musical pieces, such as the Music Box at the Figment interactive sculpture garden in New York (The Music Box. 2018) and also works that simply visually represent sound, such as Penda’s soundwaves in China (Zhi, X. 2015).
Anyone of these three definitions can represent ‘Sound Sculptures’ and it seems that simply including or representing sound in a physical sculpture can define a ‘Sound Sculpture’. My interest is from a musician/composer/producer background and therefore strongly situated in the 2nd definition and creating moving kinetic sculptures that perform a pre-composed piece. I am also interested in having these kinetic sculptures powered by either natural forces or renewable energy.
Licht mentions that David Troop called sound sculpture ‘sound combined with visual art practices’ and that Schulz mentions it is ‘an art form y in which sound has become material within the context of an expanded concept of sculpture y for the most part works that are space-shaping and space-claiming in nature’ (Licht, A, 2009). And that
“Sound art holds the distinction of being an art movement that is not tied to a specific time period, geographic location or group of artists, and was not named until decades after its earliest works were produced. Indeed, the definition of term remains elusive”. (Licht, A, 2009)
Through my work on this project I hope to form a better definition of ‘Sound Sculpture’ in relation to my work and put it into perspective with my professional music career. At this stage my definition of Sound Sculpture is anything physical that generates auditory tones, I disagree that sculptures simply visually representing sound waves are ‘Sound Sculptures’.
I am inspired by the new and I tend to be drawn to other sculptors that work the same way instead of simply recreating forms, designs and mediums that have been created before. One of my inspirations for kinetic sculpture work is Anthony Howe. I enjoy the connection between geometric design and nature and attempting to mimic that in my sculpture work. Kinetic and geometric work by artists such as Anthony Howe (Howe, A. 2015). There are many kinetic works online and these form a basis for reference. I hope to create a style and profile for myself as a sculptor with the integration of musical pieces, simple color systems, renewable energy and a connection to the environment and nature.
I like the interactivity and integration of natural elements in Steve Mann’s Hydraulophone. It serves three main roles “as an architectural display fountain, like other large fountains that visually define a landmark, iconic representation, or the like; it provides an aquatic play experience, and it invites people of all ages to “play in the water”; it is a visual art sculpture, a sound sculpture, and a musical instrument, thus bringing art, music, culture, and play into the mix.” (Mann, S. 2006)
Harry Bertoia’s sound-producing visual works are very interesting, although he was not aware of the genre ‘Sound Sculpture’ at the time of his creations. He is quoted in saying the following.
“Man is not important. Humanity is what counts, to which, I feel, I have given my contribution. Humanity shall continue without me, but I am not going away. I am not leaving you. Every time you see some tree tops moving in the wind, you will think of me. Or you will see some beautiful flowers; you will think of me. I have never been a very religious man, not in the formal way, but each time I took a walk in the woods, I felt the presence of a superior force around me.” (Bertoia, H. 1978)
As mentions earlier I like the Cutuchogue sisters Kelly and Ashley Goeller’s Music Box and its interactivity.
“Everyone these days listens to music digitally. It’s very individual,” Ashley said. “We wanted to make it collaborative, so in order to play the song two people have to turn the handles.” (The Music Box. 2018)
Other kinetic pipe organ sculptures I have sourced for inspiration include the ‘Wave Organ’ (Wave Organ, 2016) by Peter Richards and George Gonzalez in San Francisco, which uses the wave and tidal movements to amplify the sound of water and the ocean. The Singing Tree (The Singing, Ringing Tree, 2007) by Tonkin Liu Architects in Burley, UK, a collection of steel pipes that utilise the wind to create sound. The ‘Aeolus’ at the Eden Project’ (Aeolus at the Eden Project, 2011) by Luke Jerram in the UK and the ‘Zadar Sea Organ’ (Zadar Sea Organ, 2015) by Nikola Basic in the town of Zadar in Croatia.
In relation to sound activist artists, Chisholm talks about composer John Luther Adams’ work with Sila and the effect of sound and music on environmental activism.
“Music is no alternative to environmental activism or climate science or direct exposure to melting ice caps, rising seas, and cataclysmic winds, but it can compose climate-change sensations that directly affect our listening, feeling, and thinking. It can even, I venture, redirect our attention outside ourselves, which is to say outside our ubiquitous, Muzak-saturated commercial environments and our global/local webs of news and social media that tend to be self-enclosing and all-absorbing.” (Chisholm, D. 2016)
While I find this work interesting, my professional work in the arts has cemented the idea of creating musical works that have appeal and interest to non-musical people as well as musicians. Simply creating a cacophony of sound and movement is no doubt art, but the lack of a cohesive format leaves most nonmusical or audio based people uninterested and disconnected.
I will be participating in Concert for the Planet on March 24th with my Migaloo Song sculpture and as part of the HOTA choir. The event will feature a globalized performance by the Gold Coast Philharmonic Orchestra, extended to include over 100 local musicians who will perform Holst’s The Planets under the baton of conductor Lachlan Snow. (https://www.absolutetheatre.com.au/single-post/2018/03/09/Gold-Coast-to-shine-for-Earth-Hour-at-Concert-for-the-Planet) I intend to use this opportunity to attach some video screens to my previous sculpture in order to drive some direct action and change in the audience.
To end I would like to share more from Katerina Gregos’ view on the potential of art from her TEDx talk on ‘Why art is important’. She says in relation to art that
“It’s a subtle power that changes the world one perception at a time.”.
“Art is optimistic because it makes a statement that one person can change the world” and that
“Art as an act of shared communication is in a small way saying: I make the world, I don’t simply inherit it”.
Bandt, R. (1991). Public interactive sound sculpture. Australian Journal of Music Education, (1), 5.
Bertoia, H. (2016). Bertoia Home. Retrieved March 12, 2018, from http://harrybertoia.org
Gregos, K. (2014, September 02). Why art is important – Katerina Gregos (TEDx). Retrieved March 5, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPk56BR1Cmk
Born, G. (2013). Music, sound and space transformations of public and private experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brown, T., Dr. (2014, May 23). Art is a weapon for social change – Dr Tammy Brown (TEDx). Retrieved March 8, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o6kbRBFLdI&t=717s
Chisholm, D. (2016). Shaping an Ear for Climate Change. Environmental Humanities,8(2), 172-195. doi:10.1215/22011919-3664211
Cooper, G. (2017, September 27). Migaloo’s Song. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://guycooper.com.au/migaloo
Ellsworth, M. (2014, November 15). Art as activism – Marcus Ellsworth (TEDx). Retrieved March 6, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLg8LMK_Ct4&t=4s
Fontana, B. (2008). The relocation of ambient sound: urban sound sculpture. Leonardo, 41(2), 154-158.
Galpin, S. (2014, February 18). Art as activism – Shannon Galpin (TEDx). Retrieved March 8, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HjpZoYMw_E
Golden, T. (2013, February 24). How art gives shape to cultural change – Thelma Golden (TEDx). Retrieved March 6, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FCihq5n-hE&t=2s
Howe, A. (2015, June 12). Full Compilation of Kinetic Masterpieces by Anthony Howe. Retrieved December 13, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4l5rHNSq9s&t=918s%29
(2011, September 22). Aeolus at the Eden Project. Retrieved December 12, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__YdjypIZ_o
Licht, A. (2009). Sound Art: Origins, development and ambiguities. Organised Sound, 14(1), 3-10.
(2015, March 10). Zader Sea Organ. Retrieved December 13, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n86pF-wQKrw
Mann, S. (2006, December 07). The Urban Beach Meets Steve Mann’s Hydraulophone. Retrieved March 2, 2018, from http://readingcities.com/index.php/toronto/C88/P4/
Mazinani, S. (2015, June 30). Art + Activism – Sanaz Mazinani. Retrieved March 6, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTp_nLgcPyU
Music Box. (2018, February 18). Retrieved March 1, 2018, from https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/314689092706602359/
(2007, January 07). The Singing, Ringing Tree. Retrieved December 12, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B0hGyKV9qs&t=51s
Wilson, M. (2016). The Purpose Of Art. Retrieved March 5, 2018, from https://mildredwilson.art/blog/100310/the-purpose-of-art
Wave Organ (2016, April 24). Wave Organ. Retrieved December 12, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uMRomj4VjI%29
Van Tomme, N. March 11, 2009. (2013, May 17). Radical Sound Activism – FPIF. Retrieved March 8, 2018, from http://fpif.org/radical_sound_activism/
Zhi, X. (2015, March 31). Pendas soundwave pierces the myrtle tree garden. Retrieved February 22, 2018, from https://www.designboom.com/art/penda-soundwave-500-fins-myrtle-tree-garden-xiangyang-china-03-30-2015/
Migaloo’s Song will be lifting off again and heading to Home of the Arts for the Concert for the Planet on March 24th to help celebrate Earth Hour.
He will be singing his song and our HOTA Choir will also be performing on the day. Guy Cooper Sculptor
https://www.facebook.com/events/182512795686997/
Guy Cooper 