Preservation Reference Area

Preservation Reference Area (2024)
Louise Devenish (concept/co-composer/performer), Aaron Wyatt (co-composer/electronics), and Olivia Davies (video)

Premiere: 14 February 2024 at CLIMARTE Gallery for the National Sustainable Living Festival , as part of the Creative Constellations: Atlas of Radical Hope exhibition curated by Deborah Hart.

International companies are pushing to expand deep-sea mining in the ocean twilight zone, which lies just beyond the reach of sunlight. One of the least explored areas on earth, studies suggest that the biomass of fish in the twilight zone may be ten times greater than previously thought—more than the rest of the ocean combined. 2023 was marked as a deadline for establishing international protections for unmined areas, however only 21 countries have called for a pause or ban on deep-sea mining activities. Australia has so far been non-committal. Underwater noise pollution is a significant by-product of deep-sea mining. Sound travels faster through water than air, negatively impacting areas up to 500 kilometres beyond mining sites, including preservation reference areas legally bound to be protected. 

This work was developed in two formats - a film, and a live performance work - within The Sound Collectors Lab, which develops interdisciplinary creative works that reveal and communicate environmental and climate stories through sound, offering a creative pathway to bridge the gap between data, understanding, reflection, and action. In this work, the concept of underwater disturbance and noise pollution is explored sonically, using percussion instruments including waterphone, bass drum, and electronics. The accompanying film explores themes of human intervention, disturbance, and distortion in bodies of water. Guided largely by the idea of mutual disturbance, reaching hands and waters shift, overlap and blend in a pulsing distortion that renders both beautiful and grotesque visuals. Seen through a body of water, a sea of writhing hands is presented as both disrupter and disrupted.

View excerpt here.