Antartica:An Absent Presence: An Absent Presence

Description

This beautiful volume of soundscape compositions, images and words from Philip Samartzis is an invitation to share in a remarkable journey of enquiry. Antarctica is a paradox of the sublime and prosaic: with its vast expanses of ice, snow and mountains - and traces of human habitation, from weathered huts to abandoned machinery. Samartzis travelled south with the Australian Antarctic Division on several occasions and his recordings of the unique sounds of Antarctica have been used to create soundscape compositions which are meticulously realised on three CDs of the music included in this book.

Philip Samartzis is an academic, sound artist and curator. In 2009 he was awarded an Australia Antarctic Division Arts Fellowship to undertake sound recordings in Antarctica. Philip is an Associate Professor in the School of Art at RMIT University where he researches in the areas of sound art, acoustic ecology and spatial sound practices. He is also the artistic director of the Bogong Centre for Sound Culture, which he co-founded to interrogate the history and ecology of the Australian Alps.