Research Catalogue

The audio essay Sonic Fictioning: Podcasting as a Lure for Feeling introduces the concept of sonic fictioning through Schizopodcast – a sonic artwork presented as a web application and later published on Research Catalogue: https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1894089/2463127. Schizopodcast: A Podcast is a Podcast is a Podcast builds on Deleuze-Guattari’s ontology of immanence, viewing nature as an autopoietic force. It frames sonic fictioning not merely as an abstraction but as a resonant dispositif, shaped by its physical, cultural, and political contexts. Rather than opposing lived experience in late capitalism, sonic fictioning enacts a speculative flight, a ‘lure for feeling’ in the Whiteheadian sense. Used as a verb, fictioning is a practice of fabulation that connects to the real through sound, challenging the opposition between fiction and reality, producing or altering worlds. Schizopodcast asks how one might live, and how sonic fictions affirm this question. It examines the philosophical and practical implications of sonic thinking in reflecting on perception, understanding, and loopholes. The audio essay continues this exploration of sonic fictioning’s aesthetic and epistemological aspects as a lure-for-feeling. Though speculation may not reveal truths, it highlights fiction’s aesthetic value and its conveyance of corporeal knowledge.

This exposition serves as an archive for the project "Meetings with Remarkable and Unremarkable Trees", where Annette Arlander spends time with specific trees and poses for camera together with them. The exposition is under construction

This artistic research investigates the timbre of the violin in Ottoman music from the perspective of a musician outside the tradition. Its goal is not only to understand how this distinctive sound is created but also to experience how cultural, historical, and stylistic influences shape it. Approaching the tradition as both learner and artist, I learn from master musicians, immerse myself in traditional musical environments, and engage in reflective creative practice. I explore how violinists trained in Western classical music can enter this tradition respectfully, embody its nuances, and remain true to its core. Using four guiding frameworks—tacit knowledge, meşk - oral transmission, cultural immersion, and instrument modification—I document a journey of listening, learning, and transformation. This process integrates literature review, conceptual framing, artistic methodology, and reflective analysis, turning the violin into a space where diverse musical traditions engage in meaningful dialogue. Key outcomes of this study show that timbre in Ottoman violin playing is not fixed but culturally constructed and personally shaped. Timbre is deeply contextual, influenced by cultural models like the human voice and traditional instruments, and expressed through subtle choices in vibrato, ornamentation, bowing, and instrument setup. The expressive identity of Ottoman music relies on sensitivity and subtlety, with small variations significantly affecting the emotional and modal character of the music. Learning in this tradition depends heavily on embodied, tacit knowledge passed down orally through the meşk system, where core concepts such as makam nuance and microtonality are absorbed through long-term listening, singing, and playing alongside masters. Deep listening and cultural immersion were essential for developing stylistic understanding, revealing nuances that notation alone cannot capture.

This exposition is part of the series The Sonic Atelier – Conversations with Contemporary Composers and Producers, dedicated to exploring the evolving role of the composer in the twenty-first century. Through a Q&A format, the project investigates how contemporary creators inhabit hybrid identities at the intersection of composition, production, performance, and technology. This interview features Federico Albanese, who reflects on his formation, his approach to integrating sound design and production into the act of writing, and his perspective on the transformations of today’s recording industry and streaming platforms. His insights shed light on central issues such as hybridity, authorship, and the value of craftsmanship in contemporary music-making.

This practice-driven PhD developed a body of art in response to the question, ‘what is it like to be a bird?’ The motivation was towards ethical action in an ecologically damaged world. Following Tim Ingold, the study sees the environment as a meshwork of multiple lines of becoming (or flight), along which the lives of creatures unfold and interconnect. In my detailed bird studies, my question acted as a lure towards a tantalising, but ultimately unreachable goal. In this way line of flights developed between me and birds, stimulating the creation of artworks. These aimed to enchant viewers and encourage a rethinking of the human/bird relationship. I used multiple media and methods informing each other synergistically. Ultraviolet photography revealed a hidden world, visible to birds, hence questioning the hegemony of the human view. Attaching a video camera to my dog disclosed, not just a stream of images from a new perspective, but the life of a being inhabiting the world bodily, full of energy, desires, fears, and movement. In the spirit of Donna Haraway’s speculative fabulations, I constructed a Birdsong-to-English translator. This produced intriguing phrases such as ‘future earth scream now!’, challenging the reductionist ‘fighting or flirting’ understanding of birdsong and reimagining the nature of human and animal language. Building on extensive observations, field notes and recordings, I developed a range of creative writing, resulting in a radio play, a gallery installation, and a poetry pamphlet. In the culminating work, Harrier Diaries, I combined text, photography and drawings, juxtaposing subjective and objective views to highlight lines of flight between birds, their environment and the observer. Despite aiming to know a bird’s view, I concluded that what matters is not knowing, but instead an intense wonder at the unknowable. I argue that this disposition is a vital prerequisites for ethical action.

This research investigates the active role of light as a core compositional element in contemporary music performance by exploring the integration of light, sound, and movement in real-time environments. Traditionally, light has been treated as a secondary aspect of performance, primarily serving as a means of illumination or visual enhancement. However, this study examines how light can function beyond this conventional role, actively shaping musical structure and influencing perception. Through the analysis of live performances and hands-on experimentation with analogue oscillators, photoresistors, and DMX systems, this research explores how these elements function as both medium and material within a piece. My compositions, alongside works by composers such as Viola Yip and Hugo Morales Murguía, serve as case studies, illustrating light’s transformation in performance from a passive visual aid to a structural force. These works highlight how light, when treated as a compositional element, reconfigures performer agency and audience perception. By challenging conventional notions of light in music, this research contributes to ongoing discussions on multimedia composition and performance aesthetics. It proposes an alternative perspective in which light is not merely an accessory to sound but an integral component of musical structure, expanding the possibilities for interdisciplinary performance practice.