Underbellies (2015) is the result of a collaboration between artist Andrew Styan, and composer and sound artist James Maher. Underbellies explores the insidious nature of late-stage capitalism/neo-liberalism and the way in which it affects the world we live in, particularly, through the way in which the negligent use of fossil fuels is currently destroying the natural world in the form of climate change. The imagery in this work is stark, and features depictions of various ice-based textures and patterns in the process of fragmenting and shifting. The sonic aspects of Underbellies illuminate and emphasise this aesthetic, with the use of devices such as fragmented drones, harmonic clusters, and a ring-tone modulator which inverts the harmonic series of a note, adding a sense of tactility to the transformation we see the ice undertake throughout the duration of the work.

Andrew Styan (Video) and James Maher (Soundscape), Underbellies, 2015, digital video, audio, 5:13min