Air Pressure

'Air Pressure' is a live performance developed through dialogue between Antarctic field recordings and experimental performance practice.

Drawing on Philip Samartzis’s long-term polar fieldwork and Michael Vorfeld’s extended instrumental and material-based approaches, the duo explores the physical presence of air, pressure, vibration, and resonance. The work unfolds as an improvised exchange between site-derived sound and live gesture, transforming environmental recordings into a dynamic, spatial experience. Rather than illustrating Antarctica, Air Pressure foregrounds elemental forces—wind, instability, and acoustic resistance—inviting audiences to encounter the continent as an active sonic presence. 

'Air Pressure', Wilkes Station, 2016 'Air Pressure', Wilkes Station, 2016. Photo by Philip Samartzis.

Philip Samartzis is a sound artist, curator, and researcher whose work explores the relationship between sound, place, and environmental change. His practice is grounded in field recording and long-term site-based research, often undertaken in remote or extreme locations including Antarctica, desert and alpine regions. Samartzis has presented performances, installations, and exhibitions internationally, working across experimental music, spatial sound, and acoustic ecology. He is Professor of Sound Art at RMIT University, where his research focuses on listening as a critical and creative methodology.

Michael Vorfeld is a Berlin-based artist and composer working across experimental music, sound art, drawing, and expanded performance practices. Since the 1980s, he has been a central figure in Berlin’s experimental music scene, known for his work with prepared instruments, self-built sound objects, and extended techniques. Vorfeld’s practice emphasises physical gesture, materiality, and the acoustic properties of space. His work has been presented widely in concerts, galleries, and festivals throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas, often blurring distinctions between sound, image, and performance.

Supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants.

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Thumbnail image: 'Air Pressure', Wilkes Station 2, 2016. Photo by Philip Samartzis.

This public program is presented by RMIT University as part of the exhibition 'Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South', across both RMIT Gallery and Design Hub Gallery.

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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