Lake Clifton (July 2009)

There are many new places that i’ve already visited and experienced even though i’ve only been here for a month – ANd, im supposedly undergoing an administration nightmare planning for school that starts in a few days. But i really enjoyed the trip I made with SymbioticA to check out the thrombolites at Lake Clifton, Mandurah, held from the 29th June to 3rd July.

Thrombolites are million year old cyanobacteria formations that protrude from the lake’s intertidal region, giving the impression of potatoes in soup during low tide. Beautiful structures, though very, very silent – but through the workshop we heard their voices through a host of folklore/aborigines tales which brought even more mystic to these structures that were instrumental in the propogation of oxygen during early Earth.

Conservation was a hot topic, since Lake Clifton was in danger of being overrun by venture capitalists and holiday seekers to Mandurah – one of the hottest destinations for short term holidays, as well as long term retirement in western Australia. And for me, a great interest was in the rise of noise pollution levels in the area, with the advent of consumer mechanics like ATVs, dirt bikes, cars, the railroad – the primary reason for the large influx of ‘migrants’. I took some sound recordings during a seesion with sound artist/lecturer Perdita Phillips, which i wil try to fit in later in the post.

The workshop cumulated in a seminar open to the public where participants gave little presentations of their works-in-progress, or how the trip had generally informed and furthered their direction of inquiry. There was a beautiful beautiful poem written by a participant – Annamaria Weldon, a writer by profession, which i will post with her permission in due time. I myself set up a listening station that showcased a duration of processed nature and human noise recordings placed together in a simple composition of some 5-6 minutes. It was by no means a finished work – since works-in-progress were allowed at that seminar, and as well as the sounds, the station also showcased the limitations of my recording devices in such low level sound environments.

Heres more photos.