Philip Samartzis is a sound artist and curator with a specific interest in the social and environmental conditions informing remote wilderness regions and their communities. Philip is an Associate Professor within RMIT School of Art, and the artistic director of the Bogong Centre for Sound Culture.
Philip’s art practice is based on deep fieldwork where he deploys complex sound recording technology to capture natural, anthropogenic and geophysical forces. He is particularly interested in concepts of perception, immersion and embodiment in order to provide audiences with sophisticated encounters of space and place.
Philip’s Sounds Unheard masterclass series, “Environmental Sound”, takes us into the world of field recordings and sound art. We’ll be looking at how everyday and natural sounds from different environments can be used in compositions and collaborations, and hearing some of the stories behind Philip’s works created in remote areas including Antarctica, the Swiss and Australian Alps, and the Kimberley region of northern Western Australian.
In episode two, “Extreme Environments”, Philip discusses his work capturing sound recordings in Antarctica and the Swiss Alps. These frozen environments are experiencing various levels of stress due to global warming, and Philip’s recordings capture the transformations of these landscapes. Through the creation of a sound map of the Australian Antarctic Territory, Philip is charting the effects of climate change in order to give Antarctica a voice and advocate for the preservation of this unique environment.
This episode includes excerpts from two of Philip’s compositions created from sounds captured in Antarctica: ‘Ice Breaker’ (2:20) and ‘Crush Grind’ (13:42).
Join us next Wednesday for the third episode in Philip’s masterclass series, ‘Working with Communities’.
Tags: Field Recordings Philip Samartzis sound art
