Philip Samartzis

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Philip Samartzis is a sound artist, researcher, and curator with a specific interest in remote regions and their communities.

Philip investigates the social and environmental conditions of remote wilderness zones including Antarctica, the Swiss and Australian Alps, and the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia. The sound recordings he makes deploying advanced audio technologies are used within teaching, exhibition, and publication to demonstrate the transformative effects of climate change within a contemporary art context. In 2021, Philip was presented with the Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools Distinguished Research Award.

Philip is a three-time recipient of the Australian Antarctic Territory Fellowship which he is using to document the effects of extreme climate and weather events. He is undertaking the most comprehensive sound study ever produced of the ice continent spanning 20 years. Philip has presented various iterations of his research in France, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, NZ, UK and US. Philip’s book Antarctica, An Absent Presence (Thames and Hudson) is included in curricula focusing on soundscape studies and geohumanities offered by London College of Communication, Musashino Art University, Durham University, the University of Syracuse, and the Zurich University of the Arts. In recognition of the innovation of his research, Philip was selected by Australia Post to appear on the $2.20 postage stamp commemorating the Australian Antarctic Territory Arts Fellowship.

In 2019, Philip was awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship to undertake research at the High Altitude Research Centre at Jungfraujoch. His high alpine research has been featured in the New York Times, Deutsche Welle Radio, Swiss Info and Les Temps news services and exhibited in China and Japan (2019) and Switzerland and Australia (2021). Philip was recently awarded a Creative Australia International Engagement grant to register the subterranean sonics of Valais in collaboration with the Verbier 3-D Foundation, and the Valais School of Art.

Image–Kristen Sharp 2024