The above portrait of Ngarrindjeri Elder, environmental activist, Major ‘Moogy’ Sumner was painted by Elizabeth Close and Kaymist4 (2018) on the Franklin St. wall of The Joinery, around the corner from the Exhibition Space, where you will be welcomed to Climate Canons, an experimental magical interactive popup art installation. The installation is a little like the Bad Weather Hail Cannons some farmers still use trying to save their crops, but our cannons are more mysterious. They are hand made with sustainable, recycled and repurposed materials and explode with coloured lights that ripple out messages about little personal changes (canon) someone is committing to make in their daily life.
You are invited to think of something you can change in your life on a daily basis to benefit nature. Little changes that help bring about bigger changes to benefit nature and counter the effects of climate change, e.g. ' I’ll plant and care for flowering indigenous plants for bees’, or ‘I’ll choosing to lessen my carbon footprint by prioritising local organic produce and Australian made products’.
The best part is hitting the gongs to send your message, your promise (canon) to nature, then watching in awe as the sound from the gong magically leaps across the air to it’s nearby cannon and shoots out from the top as bright coloured light. It’s mesmerising to watch as the colour images the sound frequencies, then slowly fades as it ripples your message upwards and beyond into the atmosphere.
Each session is open for an hour, offering a hushed immersive space with original soundscape. There are three interactive sculptured cannons with Thai gongs tuned to the key of 'C' for Red for the "Call to Action' cannon, 'F' for Green for 'Nature' cannon and 'G' for Purple for 'Innovations' cannon. The sound-to-colour arrangement relates to a rainbow, chakras, and the synaesthesia, some are naturally gifted with in daily life. You really must hear and see it all, and be awed.
A glass of tea from Native Food Co. will be provided and a tiny gong memento to create and decorate.
Climate Canons supports traditional spiritual beliefs that say everything in the universe is connected, that everyone and everything deserves respect, and nature is sensitive to what human beings do.