Requiem for a Reef
Requiem for a Reef is a collaborative and immersive work of advocacy for the endangered Great Barrier Reef by artist Ngaio Fitzpatrick, composer Alexander Hunter and nine musicians. The event will consist of a performance followed by a Q&A with Ngaio and special guests Dr Jennie Mallela, a Marine expert from ANU Research School of Biology and Professor Mark Howden, Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute.
The work ‘Requiem for a Reef’ exploits the beauty and fragility of glass to capture a crystalline moment of tension and fracture. Like glass, Earth ecosystems exist in a state of equilibrium and once pushed beyond a stable state, will change radically in structure from a state of entropy to a state of rupture triggering a cascade of feedback causing accelerating cycles of more warming and loss of bio diversity.
The project includes an installation of coral made from colourless recycled glass, representing the fragile coral damaged during 3 mass coral bleaching events in the space of 5 years; a suspended panel of toughened industrial glass, a fog machine representing warming and lack of action due to the invisible nature of climate change events and is accompanied by a haunting musical composition using a mix of glass objects and conventional musical instruments.
Thank you to everyone whom registered for the event.
A recording of the performance is now available below.
Q & A Panel
The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) recently advised that there is still time to save the Great Barrier Reef if we act collectively and act now. This work focusses on the existential threat posed by climate change and the need for urgent action to preserve the beauty and bio diversity still remaining for future generations.
The panel will consist of:
Dr Jennie Mallela (FHEA) who is a Marine expert from the Research School of Biology College of Science at ANU
Professor Mark Howden, Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute.
This event has been organised as part of National Science Week 2020
