This artist talk consers idthe development of my practice through field recording, spatial sound and long-term engagement with remote and environmentally unstable places. Drawing on projects undertaken in Antarctica, the Swiss and Australian Alps, the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia, and more recently the volcanic environments of southern Italy, I will discuss how recording can operate as a form of artistic inquiry.Central to the talk is the idea of atmospheric listening: an approach that attends not only to sound, but to the environmental and material forces that bring it into being. Weather, geology, infrastructure and human activity interact through vibration, resonance, friction and movement, producing situations that are often unpredictable and difficult to document.Through recent projects and fieldwork, I will consider how these encounters move between recording, composition and installation, and how uncertainty, exposure and duration have come to inform both the methods and outcomes of my practice.
Philip Samartzis is a sound artist, researcher and curator working with field recording and spatial sound to examine environmental change, fragile ecologies and the social and cultural conditions of remote places. He is Professor of Sound in the School of Art at RMIT University. His practice has developed through sustained fieldwork in Antarctica, the Swiss and Australian Alps, remote Australia, Europe and the Asia-Pacific, and has been presented internationally through exhibitions, performances, publications and research projects. He has undertaken two Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowships and received an Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica.
Academic website: https://academics.rmit.edu.au/philip-samartzis
