Fostering edgy practice at the intersection of sound art and emergency medicine

Keely MACAROW / Philip SAMARTZIS
2008 Conference

How did the internationally acclaimed sound art and exploratory music festival, Liquid Architecture evolve? Can sound and music make a difference to the wellbeing of Emergency outpatients?

Developing practice-based research through student centred teaching and learning is vital if we are to develop an innovation framework in Australia for art education. By drawing upon synergies between art, industry and other disciplines for teaching and learning, researchers will encourage real world experiences and establish partnerships for a vibrant research culture. This paper will demonstrate how student, artist and industry centred projects can act as conduits for connection, collaboration and impact in applied research settings. Dr Keely Macarow and Dr Philip Samartzis will explain how innovative teaching and learning projects can shift dialogues in art making and establish long-term collaborations with artists, cultural institutions, government and industry partners. The paper will discuss how partnerships and interdisciplinary projects with the Liquid Architecture sound art festival and the Emergency department, St Vincent’s Hospital — Melbourne have evolved, and demonstrate how staff and students can facilitate research projects which forge dynamic cultural connections and make a difference to the way we listen to, view and inhabit our world.

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About the author

Dr Keely Macarow is a lecturer in the School of Art, RMIT University. Keely’s exhibition, film, video, performance and publication projects have been presented in Australia, the UK, US and Europe. As a producer and curator, Keely has presented projects at ACMI (Melbourne, 2007), PICA (Perth, 2004), the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2003) and The Lux (London, 2000) and her journal articles and catalogues have been published by RealTime, Refractory, Australian Screen Education, CCP, MIFF, RMIT Gallery and Experimenta. Keely is currently researching the intersection between art and health through projects based in Australia and South Africa.

 

Dr Philip Samartzis (Melbourne, Australia) is coordinator and lecturer in Sound in the School of Art, RMIT University. Samartzis’ research has informed solo and collaborative recordings, exhibitions and performances throughout Europe, North America, the Asia Pacific, Russia and South Africa. As a curator, Philip Samartzis has coordinated four Immersion festivals focusing on the theory and practice of sound spatialisation, Variable Resistance — a series of international sound art presentations for ACCA (2001/2) and Variable Resistance: Ten hours of sound from Australia for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2002) and the Podewil Centre for Contemporary Art in Berlin (2003).