Local award winning sculptor Guy Cooper creates giant solar-powered music box calling on Poseidon, god of the sea to save us from coal mining in Australia, Adani and to save the Great Barrier Reef

 

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).

 

The song ‘Call to Poseidon’ will be available on all major music sites including Spotify and iTunes from October 10th and the sculpture itself will be on exhibition at the Buskers by the Creek festival on October 13th and 14th in Currumbin on the Gold Coast. You can find more information about guy at

www.facebook.com/guycoopersculptor/

Credits for the song ‘Call to Poseidon’

Guy Cooper (Charlie Rebel, Mickey, Sook, Reichelt, Too Right Mate) – Lyrics/Melody, vocals, piano, organ, bass, percussion, drums, violin.

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 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.