Professor Philip Samartzis

Philip's art practice is based on deep fieldwork where he deploys complex sound recording technology to capture natural, anthropogenic and geophysical forces. The recordings are used within various exhibition, performance and publication outcomes to demonstrate the transformative effects of sound within a fine art context. He is particularly interested in concepts of perception, immersion and embodiment in order to provide audiences with sophisticated encounters of space and place. Philip is an Associate Professor within RMIT School of Art, and the artistic director of the Bogong Centre for Sound Culture.

Philip has exhibited and performed widely including presentations at The Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art, Paris (2001); The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh (2002); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2002); The Mori Arts Centre, Tokyo (2003); The Sydney Opera House (2004); The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung (2007); The National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow (2009); The Art Gallery of South Australia (2012); The National Gallery of Victoria (2013); and The Merz Foundation, Turin (2016). Philip has received two Asialink Scholarships - Performing Arts (1999) and Arts Management (2006), which he used to research contemporary Japanese sound culture, leading to numerous transnational collaborative projects.

Philip is the recipient of two Australian Antarctic Division Arts Fellowships (2009 and 2015), which he used to document the effects of extreme climate and weather events in Eastern Antarctica, Macquarie Island, and on the research vessel Aurora Australis. Artworks produced from his fellowships have been incorporated into the National Archives of Australia's Traversing Antarctica: The Australian Experience (2011-14); MONA FOMA (2011); Polar South: Art in Antarctica, Muntref Museum, the National University of Tres de Febrero, Buenos Aires (2011); the 11th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences, Edinburgh (2011); and the Balance-Unbalance International Conference, Arizona (2015). France Culture and ABC Radio National commissioned a one-hour radio composition titled Antarctica, An Absent Presence (2014) based on the book he produced for Thames & Hudson Australia (2016). In 2014 the Paris based research institution INA-GRM commissioned Davis Station for their Akousma multi-channel surround sound concert series. In 2017 France Culture commissioned A Surrender to Wind in 9 Parts focusing on the geophysical effects of wind on wilderness areas including Antarctica and sub Antarctica. Recent Antarctic related exhibitions include Super Field (2018) produced in collaboration with architects Barocco and Wright for the RMIT Design Hub Gallery; Floe produced in collaboration with architect Roland Snooks for the National Gallery of Victoria's Triennial Extra (2018); and Polar Force (2018), a performance work with Speak Percussion which received a Honorary Mention in the Digital Musics and Sound Art category of 2019 edition of Prix Ars Electronica .

Philip has curated numerous performance and exhibition programs including five Immersion festivals (1999 to 2006) focusing on the theory and practice of surround sound spatialisation, as well as Variable Resistance, a series of international sound art presentations for the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2001/02), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2002) and the Podewil Art Center, Berlin (2003). Philip co-curated The Antarctic Convergence (2012), and The Sonic City (2013), for the Liquid Architecture Festival, which were presented at various venues throughout Australia and New Zealand. He is the recipient of an Australia Council independent curators grant (2012) to develop Bogong ELECTRIC, a site specific festival investigating the Kiewa Hydroelectric scheme set in the Australian Alps. In 2014 the National Gallery of Victoria commissioned Philip to curate a listening program on the theme of place for Melbourne Now comprising soundscape works from around the world.

Academic Experience

• Visiting Professor in Sound Art, Imaging Arts & Sciences, Musashino Art University, Tokyo 2016
• Galleries Director, School of Art – RMIT University (2015)
• Visiting Professor in Sound Art, Imaging Arts & Sciences, Musashino Art University, Tokyo 2012
• Studio Coordinator of Sound, School of Art - RMIT University (2002 to 2011)
• Visiting Professor in Sound Art, Imaging Arts & Sciences, Musashino Art University, Tokyo 2011
• Visiting Professor in Sound Art, Imaging Arts & Sciences, Musashino Art University, Tokyo 2006
• Visiting Professor in Audio-Visual Concepts, Department Informatique, CNAM, Paris 2000

Australia Research Council Grants

• ARC Linkage Project (2008-2011) Designing Sound for Health and Wellbeing (ID: LP0882346)
  (with L. Macarow; E. Grierson; G. Jelinek, T. Weiland, C. Winter and D. Brown).
• ARC Linkage Project (2010-2013) Spatial Dialogues: Public Art and Climate Change (ID: 100200088)
  (with L. Williams; K. Sharp; L. Hjorth; S. Perry and D. Redfern).

Public Lectures (selected)

• Rupture, Vibration and Residue: Contemporary Sound Art Theory and Practice, RMIT University (2019)
• Spectra Art – Science 2018, Australian Network for Art and Technology, University of South Australia, (2018)
• Dynamics of Air, RMIT Gallery (2018)
• Environment in Practice: Art Making Through Crisis Symposium, Sydney University, (2018)
• Art and Antarctica, Musashino Art University, Tokyo (2016)
• Promoting Unpopular Music: How & Why?, More Talk Less Action series, West Space, Melbourne (2014)
• Representing and Remembering Place, School of Architecture, Melbourne University (2014)
• Drving Forces Conference, Australian National University, Canberra (2014)
• Hong Kong Art School, Hong Kong (2014)
• Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan (2012)
• Monolithica, Federation Square, Melbourne (2012)
• Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia (2012)
• Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan (2011)
• Theremin Center, Moscow, Russia (2009)
• Fostering Edgy Practice at the Intersection of Sound Art & Emergency Medicine, ACUADS Conference, Adelaide (2008)
• Fear of the Known Festival, University of Cape Town, South Africa (2008)
• Music.Sound.Design Conference, University of Technology, Sydney (2008)
• Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan (2007)
• The Frontiers of Music - SFX Seoul Symposium, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea (2007)
• Berliner Gesellschaft für Neue Musik, Berlin, Germany (2006)
• Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan (2005)
• Totally Huge New Music Festival Conference, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (2005)
• Typhoon Music Festival, Art Space, Sydney (2005)
• Conservatorio Statale di Cuneo, Italy (2004)
• "Look Who's Talking", Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2004)
• The Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2002)
• Cultural Theory/Historical Practices Lecture Series, Carlow College, Pittsburgh, USA (2002)
• The School of Art, the Louvre, Paris, France (2001)
• International Symposium of Electronic Art, Forum des Images, Paris, France (2000)
• Showa University of Music and Arts Management, Tokyo, Japan (2000)
• Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, Paris, France (1999)

Artist in Residence (selected)

• High Altitude Research Station at Jungfraujoch, Switzerland (2019)
• Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology at the University of Art – Zurich, Switzerland (2019)
• Pollinaria, Abruzzo, Italy (2017)
• Liminaria – San Marco dei Cavoti, Italy (2017)
• INA-GRM at Radio France - Paris, France (2014)
• Waringarri Art Centre - Kununurra, Western Australia (2012)
• Warmun Art Center – Turkey Creek, Western Australia (2011)
• Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology at the University of Art – Zurich, Switzerland (2011)
• IASKA Spaced Residency, Dampier Peninsula – Western Kimberley, Western Australia (2010)
• Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France (2007)
• Danish Institute of Electroacoustic Music, Aarhus, Denmark (2003)
• Department of Room Acoustics, IRCAM, Paris, France (2000)
• Centre for Electronic Music, Amsterdam, Netherlands (1998)
• Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique, Bourges, France (1997)
• Studio Electro-Instrumental Music - STEIM, Amsterdam, Netherlands (1997)
• CICV Pierre Schaeffer Research Institute, Herimoncourt, France (1996)

• Doctor of Philosophy (RMIT University) 2004

• Masters Degree Media Arts (RMIT University) 1996

• Certificate Japanese Language Proficiency Level 4 1995

• Postgraduate Diploma Art & Design (Phillip Institute of Technology) 1990

• BA Fine Art (Phillip Institute of Technology) 1988