p h i l i p . s a m a r t z i s : : a. about

P h i l i p S a m a r t z i s _ (www.microphonics.org)

Philip Samartzis is Coordinator of Sound in the School of Art - RMIT University, where he teaches courses in Sound Culture, and Immersive Environments within the fine art degree. Philip researches in the areas of sound art, acoustic ecology and sound spatialization, and is currently chief investigator on two Australia Research Council funded projects, Designing Sound for Health and Wellbeing; and Spatial Dialgoues: Public Art and Climate Change. His PhD, Surround Sound in Installation Art, examined the place of sound in contemporary art practice through a range of site determined sound art projects. In 2010 Philip was awarded fellowships by the Australia Council for the Arts, and the Australian Antarctic Division to document the effects of extreme climate and weather events on the human condition at Davis Station in Eastern Antarctica.

Philip has performed and exhibited widely including presentations at The Cartier Foundation, Paris (2001); The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh (2002); The Mori Arts Centre, Tokyo (2003); The National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow (2009); and The South African National Museum, Cape Town (2010). He has curated five Immersion festivals focusing on the theory and practice of sound spatialisation, as well as

Variable Resistance, a series of international sound art presentations for the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2001), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2002) and the Podewil Art Centre, Berlin (2003). Philip has also published five solo compact discs,

Residue (1998),

Windmills Bordered By Nothingness (1999),

Mort aux Vaches (2003),

Soft and Loud (2004) &

Unheard Spaces (2006) and has performed and recorded with leading international improvisers and musicians including Sachiko M, Seiichi Yamamoto, Gunter Müller, Voice Crack, Keiji Haino, Oren Ambarchi, Reinhold Friedl, Michael Vorfeld, Eric La Casa and Jean-Luc Guionnet.

Philip uses field recordings of natural and constructed environments as his primary material to render densities of space and discrete zones of aural experience, which are arranged and mixed to reflect the acoustic and spatial complexities of everyday sound fields. He draws on a range of practices ranging from acoustic ecology and bioacoustics to musique concrète and sound art to arrive at compositions that highlight the pervasive nature of sound and the myriad ways in which it informs and influences our daily experiences. To emphasize this Philip designs his compositions for multi-channel surround sound systems that afford immersive and tactile listening experiences to demonstrate the transformational qualities inherent in sounds familiar and strange.

(contact):

p.samartzis@rmit.edu.au