‘im an’ ‘im an’ me a’ways in wide-blue out low-a-drift clou’s all windfeath’ry The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhyncus funereus) has a distinctive, relaxed loping flight and a loud plaintive call: “why-eeela, weee-la”. It feeds on the seeds of diverse trees including eucalypts, banksias and hakeas. Much of this habitat has been destroyed or degraded by human activity. However, the cockatoos are often seen around the outer suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia, feeding on seeds in the cones of introduced Monterey Pines (Pinus radiata) planted along roadsides and in parks and gardens.
As a yellow-tailed black cockatoo searches for food and missing companions in urban deserts, we hear fragments of its calls…
LANGUAGE : English COUNTRY : Australia YEAR : 2025 DURATION : 4m DIRECTOR, CONCEPT, EDITING, SOUND : Ian Gibbins
Director statement : I often see these magnificent birds flying around, usually after being alerted to their presence by their unique calls. The idea for the video came from watching some interacting with their keeper in an aviary at the Adelaide Zoo. What were they thinking? What were they trying to say? The text for the video is in a dialect I invented in an attempt to match the cadences of the cockatoos’ calls. The limited colour palette of black white and yellow in the video matches that of the birds. All the the locations are either in or were within the original habitat of the cockatoos.
Bio : Ian Gibbins is a poet, video artist and electronic musician living in South Australia. His poetry has been widely published in Australia and overseas, and includes four books. His award-winning poetry videos, video art and soundscapes have been exhibited to acclaim at festivals, installations, galleries and public art displays around the world. Until he retired in 2014, Ian was an internationally recognised neuroscientist and Professor of Anatomy at Flinders University, South Australia.
Pebbles Underground is focused on showcasing and promoting experimental, avant-garde, underground, and no-to-low budget projects by artist-humans from all over the world. Absurd, uncanny, witty, humorous, slow-video – all are welcomed, and loved.
Pebbles Underground is an independent project not funded by any government or corporation, and we intend to keep it that way. Main source of funding is personal donations from humans organizing the project, who are artists themselves, and the main drive of the project is formed by the energy and involvement of the organizers, and the public.
