SU Masterclass 51: Philip Samartzis on Working with Communities

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 the third episode, “Working with Communities”, Philip discusses two projects that are driven by collaboration and socially-engaged practice. The Bogong Centre for Sound Culture, established by Philip and Madelynne Cornish, is an artist-led initiative in the Victorian Alps. Though an ongoing residency program and the collective work of visiting artists, the Bogong Centre is documenting the effects of both climate change and sustainable energy on the local landscape.

Philip also discusses his work in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, collaborating with indigenous communities to create new sound works. In this project, Philip attempts to record an experience of country through the listening of community, capturing the sounds that are important to them. This episode includes an excerpt of these recordings, created during residencies with Tura New Music (10:14).