At the End of Night: explorations of Antarctica and Space in the sound art of Philip Samartzis

Abstract

This article explores the work of Australian sound artist Philip Samartzis, who documented the eco-acoustic characteristics and atmospheric effects of Antarctica and its environs during two field trips in 2010 and 2016. It begins by situating his work within the context of other compositions that engage with Antarctica, the atmosphere and Outer Space, before focusing on examples of two of his compositions. At the End of Night is based on sound recordings of a Medium Frequency Spaced Array radar used to measure upper atmospheric conditions through the transmission and reception of coded sine tone pulsations, while Aurora Australis is derived from the sonification of digital data generated by auroral activity produced over one calendar year. The article concludes with a section in which the composer reflects on Antarctica and its soundscape ecology, as well as the methods and processes he has employed whilst conducting field work in this extreme environment. In doing so, it aims to reveal the approaches and methods behind his sound art and to show how his compositions can not only enhance general understanding of Antarctica and the Earth’s atmosphere, but also encourage us to engage with these spaces in new, and powerfully affecting, ways.

Keywords:

• Antarctica
• Outer Space
• atmosphere
• sound
• soundscape
• composition

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the generosity of the Australian Antarctic Division, The Australia Council for the Arts and Creative Victoria in supporting this research.

Notes

¹ Griffiths, “Introduction: Listening to Antarctica,” 8–13; Philpott and Leane, “Making Music,” 2, 3.

² Malpas, “Breathing Space.”

³ See McGreevy, “The VLF Story.”

⁴ Kahn, Earth Sound Earth Signal, 8, 9.

⁵ Ibid., 106, 107.

⁶ Ibid., 115.

⁷ See Kronos Quartet, “Sun Rings.”

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ See also the separate work of Australian artist Joyce Hinterding and American artist Stephen P. McGreevy to document the magnetosphere in sound (Haines and Hinterding, “Joyce Hinterding”; and McGreevy, “Music of the Magnetosphere”).

¹⁰ Philpott, “Sonic Explorations,” 83.

¹¹ Ibid., 86.

¹² See Philpott, “Promoting Environmental Awareness.”

¹³ Pijanowski and others, “What is soundscape ecology?,” 1213.

¹⁴ Philpott, “Promoting Environmental Awareness.”

¹⁵ Malpas, “Breathing Space.”

¹⁶ Kolb and Needham, “Antarctic Dreams,” 7.

¹⁷ Pijanowski and others, “What is soundscape ecology?,” 1227.

¹⁸ Samartzis, Antarctica: An Absent Presence, 16.

¹⁹ Ibid., 20.

²⁰ A recording of Antarctica, An Absent Presence in the French language is available from the France Culture website (http://www.franceculture.fr/emission-l-atelier-de-la-creation-acr-%E2%80%93-antarctique-une-presence-absente-2014-12-04), while the full English version is available from the ABC Soundproof website (http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/soundproof/antarctica-an-absent-presence/5930156). See also Samartzis, Antarctica: An Absent Presence.

²¹ Recordings of both compositions are available with Samartzis’s book Antarctica: An Absent Presence (Melbourne: Thames & Hudson, 2016).

²² See Australian Antarctic Division, “Antarctic Geography.”

²³ NASA, “Voyager: The Interstellar Mission.”

²⁴ It is worth noting that Andrea Polli has also utilised anthropogenic sounds and sonifications of weather data from Antarctica in her Sonic Antarctica (2009) project, while Craig Vear has captured some human and mechanical sounds (in addition to biological and geophysical sounds) in compositions stemming from his 2003–2004 visit to the ice.

²⁵ See Philpott, “Sonic Explorations,” 90, 91.

²⁶ Quin, Foreword to Antarctica, 8–10.

²⁷ Malpas, “Breathing Space.”