Research Catalogue

Research Paper of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2024 BA Photography Summary: You don’t see what I see. I don’t see what you see. Eyes as hatches passing through reflections of the world around. Electromagnetic radiation translated into visuals. Interpreted by mental processes in the brain. As a woman who used to work in the corporate world, is a mother and an aspiring photographer, I am interested in the topics of gender equality and feminism, seen as inequality based on power relations that are culturally constructed in society. Regarding these topics, I find mostly written or text-based outings. The nature of the topic results in either stereotype or cliché imagery we see in the media, that are detrimental in acquiring an equal basis for everyone. Using case studies, I analyze photographic work related to the gender inequality and power structures. The theoretical framework applied is from Nicholas Mirzoeff (British-American, 1962), Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at the New York University and is derived from his book ‘An introduction to Visual Culture’ (2023). This theory distinct ‘visualizing’ (what is commonly seen, the ruling power) and ‘visibilizing’ (introducing different perspectives as response to the ruling power). Mirzoeff elaborates on this by comparing the Spanish word for power, ‘poder’, meaning “static, constituted power” with power as ‘potencia’ which according to him has a “dynamic constituent dimension… our power to do, to be affected and to be affected by others.”. To me he connects visualization with exposing what the systemic power wants us to see, while ‘visibilizing’ is exposing the views that are not dictated by that overarching power but that have the freedom to show different perspectives and views. For the case studies I chose ‘The Table of Power I & II’ of Dutch Photographer Jacqueline Hassink (1966-2018) analyzing economic power and role of women in the higher echelons of companies. A work consisting of board rooms photos of the forty largest industrial multinational companies at the time (1994 & 2009, Table of Power I & II respectively). In ‘Female Power Stations: Queen Bees’ (1996-1998) she reflects upon board rooms of female leadership countered against their dining tables at home, all set up to receive guests. A diptych of power (work) vs. traditional qualities (home). I continue with the work ‘Performance Review’ (2020) of American photographer Endia Beal (1985). ‘Performance Review’ is about fitting into traditional corporate culture layered with outward signifiers of difference, navigating the corporate environment based on unconscious biases. We are part of the system, whether we like it or not. Me aiming to trigger a change with photographs is what drives me to be a maker. By not taking things as truth or fixed, by challenging the status quo, and by knowing that there are always different perspectives to look at things. I feel I am challenging the visualization of things, and therefore affect people around me. It’s me creating a ‘potencia’, a dynamic constituent dimension, that fights the ‘poder’; it’s within my power to do and my photographs will enable that.

Schedule, updates and resources for the Working Group Performance and Pedagogy at PSi 29: Assembly, London, UK. Organized by Vanessa Damilola Macaulay, Leigh Anne Howard and Adelheid Mers (coordinator)

onderzoeksproces

The video is part of artistic research that explores a dialogue between human, non-human, and forces of the land in Utsjoki, Finland. In this artistic research, walking is used as a method to connect with the environment. During the walks, small amounts of soil – sand, stones, and clay – is gathered and processed further in a studio. Some soil is transformed to slips and used when painting hand-built vases made from the gathered clay. The fired vases are placed temporarily in local rivers. The result is a series of three vase experiments done in a dialogue between human, soil, water, and the forces of the land. The video presents the third vase experiment, where the vase is built from the local clay. The motifs of the painting are the nationally endangered animals: arctic fox, fell owl and glacial salmon. In the River Teno catchment, small juvenile salmon often spend some of their first years of life in tiny tributaries, which they enter from their birth place, the spawning areas in the main stem of the river. One of these nursery streams being Geassemahjohka. The vase is positioned in Geassemahjohka, which is running to the main stem of the River Teno some 70 km upstream from the estuary. Via the experiment we speculate: can act of crafting vase be conceived as act of caring, the vase being thus a symbolic shelter for the salmon?

Despite knowing that music and emotions have a lot to do with each other, sometimes it is hard to articulate which relationship they have. Since the emotional impact seems to be one of the biggest appeals for an audience, do we, the musicians (specifically the performers), pay and draw enough attention to it? After reviewing the relevant literature about the processing of emotions, I came across the philosophical approaches of emotions in and through music by Peter Kivy, Jerrold Levinson, and Stephen Davies, proposals that could serve as inspirations for an audience and for performers. Then, I decided to carry out a series of experimental sessions to test the impact of these three approaches, as well as the performer's role, and components that could also affect a performance, such as set-ups, musical manipulations, or what I have called 'extramusical' items or elements. In addition to my research question “How can a performer affect or manipulate the emotional engagement of an audience?”, I sought to explore another inquiry. Is engaging more with the public nowadays strictly a musical matter?

There are good reasons to consider point of audition (POA) as a problematic term when writing about sound. This essay addresses the different challenges one meets when using the term and discusses different alternatives for future use of this terminology within the field of television sound. The motivation for rethinking the term is the analytical and descriptive problems raised when writing about recent trends in television sound in drama, sports, news, documentaries and other television genres. The argumentation refers to the flexible and creative uses of television sound today and discusses how various production examples can be better accounted for by refining the term point of audition. All in all, four categories of point of audition are suggested for analysis: observational, active, individual and personal POAs.