Ten Trenches

Digging for the Past, Unveiling the Future

A partnership between Bundanon Trust, University of Wollongong and Macquarie University
Funded by Arts NSW

Ten Trenches investigates the impact of sea-level rise on the Shoalhaven River in NSW. Auger holes and slot trenches reveal the flood behaviours of the river from up to 8,000 years ago – a period when the sea was about a metre higher than present – a level which is predicted to reoccur within the next 100 years.

Estuaries of the past; Centuries of dirt; We dive knife-in-mouth through tonnes of earth

A collaboration between a site-based artists and a river scientist: two brothers Michael and Tim Cohen. Ten Trenches is part of Bundanon Trust’s SITEWORKS project; a three year conversation between artists, scientists, historians, archaeologists and local people exploring the Bundanon site.

CREW: Tim Cohen, Michael Cohen, Sydney Bouhaniche, Oscar Garratt, Kraig Grady, Steph Kemode, Cecil McLeod, Katia Molino, Terumi Narushima, Brent Peterson, Craig Walsh.

UPDATE

By Day Two the crew of Ten Trenches were already 27 metres down, drilling through 15 metres of beautiful soft river sand to reach a particular time period known as Pleistocene, which dates from 10,000 years and older. The crew have discovered traces of an extinct species of tree.

On Day Three the seven-tonne excavator arrived and the digging of the slot trenches begun. To date, four trenches have been dug, positioned throughout the paddocks at Bundanon.

Saturday night at Bundanon was an experience for around 70 people who were invited to discuss and view the early stages of Ten Trenches project, led by Tim and Michael Cohen. A Site by Night visit, after the sun had set led by Michael Cohen was an integration of light, sound and performance, involving artists Katia Molino, Sydney Bouhaniche, Kraig Grady, Terumi Narushima and the Doonooch Dancers, led by Cecil McLeod and Richard Scott Moore. Click on the site by night link to the right to view the photos.