Phillip Stearns‘ work lies at the intersection of art, philosophy, and science, drawing upon a variety of disciplines including installation, audio-video, circuit sculpture, writing, performance art and musical composition. Deconstruction, dissection, and reconfiguration are methods he commonly employs in the interrogation of materials ranging from electronic objects, biological systems, images, light, video, and sound. His process is that of reduction aimed at revealing hidden macrocosms of potential, new material for expression, and new paths for inquiries into understanding the state of things. In his work with technology, the machine is understood as the manifestation of human intentions, and always lurking within is the unexpected, our dreams both consciously and unconsciously inscribed. Phenomenological experiences become pathways for interconnecting metaphorical spaces implied in the selection of materials, processes and media.
Phillip Stearns received his MFA in music composition and integrated media from the California Institute of Arts in 2007 and his BS in music technology from the University of Colorado at Denver in 2005. His work has been exhibited internationally at electronics arts festivals, museums, and galleries including: Harvestworks (2010 NYC); Gli.tc/H (2010 Chicago, IL); Festival De Arte Digital (2010 Belo Horizonte, Brazil); FILE (2009 Sao Paulo, Brazil); NIME (2009 Pittsburgh, PA); Filmer La Musique (2009 Paris, France); FONLAD (2009 Coimbra, Portugal); Torrance Art Museum (2008, 2007 Los Angeles, CA); Optica Film Festival (2008 Gijon, Spain). He has participated in residencies at Museums Quartier (Vienna 2010), STEIM (Amsterdam 2007), Experimental Television Center (NY 2009), Harvestworks (NY 2010), is the current AIRTime Fellow at Free103Point9 for the 2010-2011 cycle, and curator for the 8th annual Bent Festival (2011).
For Any Number of Brass Instruments: 2011 – 2012 (for Radu Malfatti) is a year long text-based music composition. Whether you play brass, or not, you may participate, simply by reading the score. Postcard format scores will be available at the Soundwalk 2011 check-in and information area or you can download them here. Please, if you play brass and can bring your instrument to the festival, it would be wonderful to have you lend your voice and interpretation of the score to the performance. Documentation of the performance is welcomed and should be submitted to phil@phillipstearns.com. Documentation can take the form of audio recordings, photographs, sketches, paintings, found objects, text descriptions, etc.