Comprising an output that has explored the interconnected histories of design, sound and experimental media, Paul Purgas’ work has built on a background in architecture and an ongoing exploration of the dialogues between the spatial and sonic. Through his work with the experimental sound and music project Emptyset he has developed a series of public commissions that have connected architecture and performance, working with spatial recording, feedback, acoustic analysis, radio broadcasting and instrument design, and realised through large scale commissions for the Architecture Foundation, Tate Britain, Roberts Institute of Art, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Deutschlandradio. These projects realised across diverse locations including an underground cave system, former nuclear power station, radio transmission centre, a gothic mansion and institutional galleries, have tested the possibilities of sonic practice, blurring the boundaries between music, performance and installation, whilst considering the porous correspondences between architecture and sound.

Through his individual artistic research he has sought out historical narratives between the fields of architecture, design, music and spiritual philosophy, uncovering the history of the India’s first electronic music studio and its links to Indian Modernism and radical pedagogy. His subsequent immersive transhistorical installations, incorporating spatialised compositions and design elements have been presented at Tramway, Glasgow, Camden Art Centre, London, Kunstverein Gartenhaus, Vienna and CTM/Transmediale, Berlin. His research has developed further through the recent essay collection Subcontinental Synthesis published by Strange Attractor/MIT Press and a series of BBC Radio 3 documentaries including Recording on the Nomad’s Trail, an exploration of the life and work of Deben Bhattacharya a forgotten pioneer of ethnographic recording, Krishnamurti in England, a study of alternative education within South Asian spirituality, and Electronic India, uncovering the history of India’s first electronic music studio.

Paul Purgas is a London-based artist and musician working with sound, performance and installation. Originally trained as an architect he has presented projects with CTM/Transmediale (2023), Kunstverein Gartenhaus (2022), Tramway (2021) and Camden Art Centre (2020) and is a resident of Somerset House Studios. He is the editor of the essay collection Subcontinental Synthesis (Strange Attractor/MIT Press, 2023) and is one half of the electronic music project Emptyset who have presented performances at Unsound, Kraków; Berghain, Berlin; and Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg. He has produced a series of BBC Radio 3 documentaries about his research including: Electronic India (2020); Krishnamurti in England (2023); and Recording on the Nomad’s Trail (2023). He has curated programmes with Tate Britain, ICA, Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridge, the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, Somerset House and Spike Island.