The collaborative process behind Alluvial Gold with Louise Devenish and Stuart James

Creating New Spaces: Interviews with artists redefining spaces through technology

In this interview Louise Devenish and Stuart James are talking about making 'Alluvial Gold,’ which exists both as an art installation and as a concert performance. It’s created by Louise Devenish and percussionist, visual artist Erin Coates and composer Stuart James. Erin was not available to join in the conversation. The interview explores collaboration and the challenges of remote collaboration.

Highlights

(0:00:00) Making creative collaboration work

(0:02:01) Explanation of Alluvial Gold and its themes

(0:05:52) Integration of themes into the sound and visuals

(0:09:46) The collaborative process and challenges of remote collaboration

(0:12:56) Physicality and spatial aspects of the performance

(0:19:25) Challenges faced during the project

(0:23:50) Playing the space as a percussionist

(0:28:27) Advice for creatives embarking on a similar journey

About Erin Coates

Erin Coates is a visual artist and creative producer based in Perth, Australia. Her work, spanning drawing, sculpture and film, explores the limits of the human body in various environments, influenced by her background in rock climbing and freediving. Erin’s recent work presents hybrid forms merging human elements with Australia's unique marine and estuarine life forms, speculating on potential post-human futures. Her work has been displayed in galleries and film festivals, both locally and internationally, including the 23rd Biennale of Sydney, the Adelaide Biennial, the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art , and The National: New Australian Art. Erin is represented by Moore Contemporary; she holds a masters in fine arts from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada​.

Visit Erin’s website

About Louise Devenish

Louise Devenish is a percussionist based in Australia. Her creative work merges performance, artistic research and collaborative interactions. Louise is a champion of new music; she has commissioned over 50 works for percussion and has performed extensively in ensembles like Decibel and The Sound Collectors Lab. Currently, she is a senior research fellow undertaking an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) fellowship at Monash University, where she also directs The Sound Collectors Lab and serves as percussion coordinator. Louise’s performances, recognised for their virtuosity, are featured on international labels such as HatArt and Immediata. She has been honoured with a Churchill fellowship and multiple APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards, and holds a doctorate in music.

Visit Louise’s website

About Stuart James

Stuart James is a composer, sound artist, and producer based in Australia. He is a founding member of the Decibel New Music ensemble, and a lecturer in the Composition and Music Technology Program at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Stuart’s interests include spatial audio, spectral synthesis, and wave terrain synthesis. His recent work, supported by an Edith Cowan research grant, explores the potential uses of 3D sound to aid human navigation and the opportunities that emerging technologies present for exploring virtual environments​​. Stuart completed his doctoral research in the field of music technology.

Visit Stuart’s website

Links from the podcast

• Learn more about Alluvial Gold
• Watch a recording of Alluvial Gold
• Read Louise’s article on Instrumental infrastructure, instrumental sculpture and instrumental scores: a post-instrumental practice