“The Magnetic Quiet Zone” by Philip Samartzis,
till from Philip Samartzis
Title:
- The Magnetic Quiet Zone
Artist(s) and People Involved:
Exhibiting Artist(s):
Symposium:
Artist Statement:
‘The Magnetic Quiet Zone’ is an immersive, 35-minute audio-visual installation exploring the frozen sounds and stagnant silences, the strange atmospherics and dynamic forces operating at the margins of our planet.
Drawing on the Antarctic research of sound artist Philip Samartzis, visual artist Martin Walch, and writer/composer Sean Williams, ‘The Magnetic Quiet Zone’ uses field recordings, digital imaging and animation, and ambient music to render complex behaviours, vast spaces, material encounters and wild weather that express the uncanniness of the ice continent. The animated video comprising images captured at 150-second intervals over the 2017/18 austral summer provides a record of light and
shadow, mutable weather, and the rhythm of human activity that distorts the fabric of space and time, culminating in the sensation of an everlasting day.
The ways people live and work in remote places such as Antarctica progressively resemble the broader contemporary experience, in which strict protocols and hyper-vigilance mitigate risk. The unpredictable nature of life in extremis that necessitates constant adaptation is in many ways how we live on the rest of the planet where our assumptions are regularly tested. The resilient communities who occupy these distant and fragile places provide models of resistance that can help deepen understanding of the impact of environmental dissonance. Artists and writers play an increasingly vital role in observing and recording the tension between climate, landscape, technology, and human action, to demonstrate the interconnectedness of things.
