Research Catalogue

Bachelor of Choreography 4th Year Exposition

PERFORMING PROCESS is a research group within the Artistic Research Centre at Nottingham Trent University, co-led by Emma Cocker and Danica Maier, both Associate Professors in Fine Art. We ask: what is at stake in focusing on the process of practice — the embodied, experiential, relational and material dimensions of artistic making, thinking and knowing. What is the critical role of uncertainty, disorientation, not knowing and open-ended activity within artistic research? How might a process-focused exploration intervene in and offer new perspectives on artistic practice and research, perhaps even on the uncertain conditions of contemporary life? PERFORMING PROCESS has origins in a number of critical precedents: Summer and Winter Lodges originating within the fine art area (practice-research residencies or laboratories dedicated to providing space-time for making-thinking and for exploring the process of practice), collaborative artistic research projects such as No Telos, for exploring the critical role of uncertainty, disorientation, not knowing and open-ended activity; the DREAM seminar series with PhD researchers which focuses specifically on the ‘how-ness’ of practice research by asking - How do we do what we do?

Towards a (per)sonal topography of grand piano and electronics How can I develop a grand piano with live electronics through iterated development loops in the cognitive technological environment of instrument, music, performance and my poetics? The instrument I am developing, a grand piano with electronic augmentations, is adapted to cater my poetics. This adaptation of the instrument will change the way I compose. The change of composition will change the music. The change of music will change my performances. The change in performative needs will change the instrument, because it needs to do different things. This change in the instrument will show me other poetics and change my ideas. The change of ideas demands another music and another instrument, because the instrument should cater to my poetics. And so it goes… These are the development loops I am talking about. I have made an augmented grand piano using various music technologies. I call the instrument the HyPer(sonal) Piano, a name derived from the suspected interagency between the extended instrument (HyPer), the personal (my poetics) and the sonal result (music and sound). I use old analogue guitar pedals and my own computer programming side by side, processing the original piano sound. I also take out control signals from the piano keys to drive different sound processes. The sound output of the instrument is deciding colors, patterns and density on a 1x3 meter LED light carpet attached to the grand piano. I sing, yet the sound of my voice is heavily processed, a processing decided by what I am playing on the keys. All sound sources and control signal sources are interconnected, allowing for complex and sometimes incomprehensible situations in the instrument´s mechanisms. Credits: First supervisor: Henrik Hellstenius Second Supervisors: Øyvind Brandtsegg and Eivind Buene Cover photo by Jørn Stenersen, www.anamorphiclofi.com All other photo, audio and video recording/editing by Morten Qvenild, unless stated.

As musicians, we work in a variety of different spaces, some of which are unfamiliar and with their own dynamics. But in order to be as productive as possible, we have internalized the notion that, particularly as performers, we must keep our personal and professional lives apart. In my personal case, after moving to the Netherlands to begin my master's program and finding myself without a place to live, I became aware of how much this circumstance affected my playing. Despite the initial negative impact of the situation, I was able to see potential for an artistic endeavor, leading me to embark on the creation of an interdisciplinary piece titled "The space we are in" – a composition for amplified viola, tape, and video – in an attempt to materialize the feelings and thoughts surrounding my personal situation. In this study, I documented each stage of the artistic development process, alongside an analysis exploring the philosophical and psychological connotations of the concept of space, and contrasting it with the idea of place. Additionally, I delved into intriguing concepts such as Kathleen Coessens' artistic web of practice and examined various artistic works where the interaction with space plays a significant role. While working on this project, I discovered a specific interaction with my environment that not only helped me adjust to my new living situation but also –and this is something that I hope to share with the readers of this research– increased my sensitivity and helped me comprehend my artistic vision.

To be a contemporary music performer today is to have a deeply fragmented practice. The performer’s role is no longer simply a matter of mastering her instrument and executing a score. Music practices are increasingly incorporating new instruments and technologies, methods of creating works, audience interaction and situations of interdependence between performer subjects. The performer finds herself unable to keep a sense of mastery over the performance. In other words, performing is increasingly precarious.

This website provides musical examples linked to my analyses of Eugène Ysaÿe's annotations on scores of César Franck's 'Sonate pour piano et violon'. It is an appendix to the article: Joanna Staruch-Smolec, 'Reinterpreting Ysaÿe’s Annotations. Musical sources relating to Franck’s Sonata in Viola Mitchell’s collection (Juilliard School Library)', Revue belge de Musicologie, 2025.