Surbhi Mittal, aka Pale Blue Dotter, is a sound artist, musician, and deep listening practitioner based from Delhi, India. She was a participant in the 2022 Westben Virtual Residency for Performer-Composers, an online collaborative exchange with musicians from around the world, taking part in the development of a multimedia piece and webpage involving field recordings of birds in conjunction with electronic and acoustic instruments. A former member of FemWAV – a collective of female artists focused on creating initiatives that provide possibilities for women to channel their creativity through music –, Surbhi advocates for the representation of women in electronic music and intersectional commitment to social change. She is currently in the process of launching a project to record and interpret the sounds of Durga Puja, a 9-day festival in Bengal, drawing connections between the attentive listening of the idols of Durga and the deep listening practice developed by Pauline Oliveros.
Surbhi is also a contributor on The Indian Music Diaries website, regularly writing on the work being produced in the Indian electronic music industry, aiming to showcase new and innovative talent. An artist with a strong conceptual framework, she believes that “every creative piece already exists in the ether. We, as creative artists, are mediums to make it visible in the material world.”
