#ARCTIC #DISPERSAL #MIGRATION #MELTING #ICE #CULTURE #OCEANS #DIGITALLIFE #MUSIC #CLIMATECHANGE
#PERFORMANCE #SCULPTURE #INSTALLATION #CASSETTES
The Matter of the Soul is a musical and sono-sculptural work exploring human empathy with the process of dispersal in the Arctic. It centres around an hour-long experimental music symphony composed of four movements.
The Matter of the Soul is presented as a mixed media installation, a video installation and a performance. It has been released as an album and is available on The Matter of the Soul | Symphony from Kat Austen’s Bandcamp.
Performances
Musical compositions for The Matter of the Soul are based around field recordings of Arctic waters made bespoke sound instruments created by adapting scientific equipment that measure chemical properties of water. Austen plays Arctic water live using these instruments during performances by changing their chemical properties.
The Matter of the Soul | Symphony was premièred at Howard Assembly Rooms, Opera North in Leeds (23rd October 2018).
Exhibitions
The Matter of the Soul is exhibited as a sculptural new media installation including video, a listening post, canvasses, free-standing and relief sculptures.
The Matter of the Soul, Bonhams, July 2018. Image courtesy of nk productions 
The Matter of the Soul, Bonhams, July 2018. Image courtesy of nk productions 
The Matter of the Soul, Bonhams, July 2018. Image courtesy of nk productions 
The Matter of the Soul, Bonhams, July 2018. Image courtesy of nk productions 
The Matter of the Soul, Bonhams, July 2018. Image courtesy of nk productions
Images are from The Matter of the Soul in Polar Encounters at Bonhams Art Gallery, London
30th July to 17th August 2018
More images available at nk productions on flickr.
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)