The Matter of the Soul | Symphony is an experimental electronic music performance and album addressing the profound impact of climate change on the Arctic region, exploring mining, identity, melting ice and migration through the central theme of dispersal.
During the 1-hour audio-visual performance, Austen plays sounds from Arctic and local waters using scientific equipment specially adapted to create sounds from the measurement of chemical and physical properties of water.
The Matter of the Soul | Symphony has been performed at Howard Assembly Rooms, Opera North (UK), Headlands Center for the Arts (US), Climate Hub @ COP24 (PL), Fusion Festival (DE) and more. Invited performance collaborators include choreographer Kasia Witek, artist Servando Barriero, artist Dongjoo Seo, pianist Matthew Bourne and trumpeter Alex Bonney.
Credits
Friends of SPRI, Scott Polar Research Institute (UK); Bonhams (UK); OneOcean Expeditions (CA); Cultural Institute, University of Leeds (UK); IceAlive (UK)
Featured photograph: Norman Posselt Berliner Gazette
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS | PRESS
K. Austen, “Sounding Dispersal as a Route to Empathy with the Changing Arctic,” Leonardo Music Journal (2019) 29, 3-7.
The Matter of the Soul on BBC Three’s Free Thinking: Ice
K. Austen, “How I Made Musical Instruments from Lab Equipment to Create Empathy with the Arctic,” The Conversation (31 October 2018)
Art to create empathy with the Arctic, Article, Leeds Cultural Institute, Medium (29 November 2018)
Art to create empathy with the Arctic, Article, University of Leeds, Blog, (3 December 2018)
The Sound of Climate Change, Case Study MT.com
K. Austen, “This Fractionation of Our Being,” Soundest 3 (2019)
The Matter of the Soul on Ice Alive Blog (2019)
Detecting Tacit Knowledge, Interview in Mediapart (2019)
The Matter of the Soul | Concentration in Black Coffee & Vinyl „Ice Culture“ (2019)