Antarctica, An Absent Presence

Background In 2009 I was awarded an Australian Antarctic Division Arts Fellowship which I used to observe and recorded the effects of extreme climate upon various communities and infrastructure in Eastern Antarctica. The principal idea was to chronicle the minutia of everyday life framed within the cold and isolation that delineates the Antarctic and Sub Antarctic regions. While I was curious about the daily operations that occur on ship and station, I was specifically interested in the systems and technologies required to sustain life, and the ways in which order and social cohesion is accomplished. Significance Antarctica, An Absent Presence was co-commissioned by France Culture's Atelier de Creation Radiophonique and ABC Radio National's Creative Audio Unit for radio broadcast in France and Australia and attendant international markets. It was produced in collaboration with Paris based INA-GRM and funded by the Australia Council for the Arts. The significance lays in the context of the presentation which involved two of France's most prestigious cultural organisations. Atelier de Creation Radiophonique has been broadcasting programs of experimenal sound art since 1969 and is considered one of the most important programs operating within France Culture. The INA-GRM was founded by cultural theoriest Pierre Schaeffer in the 1950s and is recognised as one of the leading institutions in the development of experimental music since the post-WW2 period. The Creative Audio Unit at the ABC is a new initiative designed to support and promote experimental sound culture in Australia. Research Antarctica, An Absent Presence provides a compendium of observations using sound recordings and text to convey an experience of the frozen continent different to those presented through the lens of natural history, climate science or human exploration. It is a reimagining of a place marked by a strong sense of absence, empty and white, deserted and silent.

【背景】2009年，笔者获颁澳大利亚南极局艺术奖学金（Australian Antarctic Division Arts Fellowship），以此为契机观察并记录极端气候对南极东部各社区及基础设施的影响。本次创作的核心理念，是以界定南极与亚南极地区的严寒与隔绝为框架，记录日常生活的细微肌理。尽管笔者对科考船与科考站的日常运作抱有浓厚兴趣，但尤其聚焦于维系生存所需的系统与技术，以及维系秩序与社会凝聚力的方式。
【作品意义】《南极洲：缺席的存在》（Antarctica, An Absent Presence）由法国文化电台（France Culture）广播创作工作室（Atelier de Creation Radiophonique）与澳大利亚广播公司（ABC）广播国家频道创意音频单元联合委托制作，用于法国、澳大利亚及相关国际市场的广播播出。该作品由巴黎的INA-GRM合作制作，并由澳大利亚艺术理事会（Australia Council for the Arts）资助。其意义体现在合作方的顶尖行业地位：两家均为法国极具影响力的文化机构。该工作室自1969年起播出实验性声音艺术节目，被视为法国文化电台旗下最具影响力的节目板块之一。INA-GRM由文化理论家皮埃尔·谢弗（Pierre Schaeffer）于20世纪50年代创立，被公认为二战后实验音乐发展领域的领军机构之一。澳大利亚广播公司的创意音频单元是一项全新举措，旨在支持并推广澳大利亚的实验声音文化。
【研究内容】《南极洲：缺席的存在》以声音录制与文本为载体，汇编了一系列观察记录，旨在传递与自然历史、气候科学或人类探索视角下截然不同的冰封大陆体验。它重新诠释了这片被浓郁缺席感裹挟的土地：空旷纯白、荒芜寂静。