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.

Presented by RMIT Galleries as part of the exhibition, Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South.

Supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants.

Images courtesy of Philip Samartzis.