Research Catalogue

Design for a new house, scrapped 2002, reworked 2021 with bird observatories on mud landscape. Flipping the initial scaled sketches for the house, I selected the naturally lit staircase as the main sculptural and building element for bird observatories, spread on the mud landscape of a natural bird habitat. The sculptural structures are proposed to be installed on site following the parallactic model, which re-frames the site as the medium through the pieces.

Unrealised design for garden house in North London, 2002. An unrealised house commission prompted my preoccupation with the question of creative value, which for architecture largely relates to the local economy. Similar to, but not quite the same as authorial or intellectual property rights, the question of creative value for writers is not connected to local economies, although it is determined to a certain degree by cultural values.

Design, 1995-96, 2023. Design, 1996-97. Photography, 2010, 2011. Essay, 2015. Collage Text, 2022. The exposition serves as commentary and guide on the place of art, in a gradually environmentally and technologically challenged world. The re-design proposal, inspired by De Stijl, illustrates the modernist historical view that art appears to be regressive, rather than progressive: as soon as a movement or a school becomes established, reaching its culmination, it starts declining. Finally, I have included a graduate school architectural design project in the archaeological site of Eleusis accompanied by new commentary. With essay about experimental film making in the British avant-garde, published in "Architecture and Culture" journal, 2015. About how to navigate this exposition: Scroll from top to bottom, then from bottom to top, then scroll to the top right, then scroll to the bottom right.

GAMPSISS was a comprehensive, 4-year collaborative, transdisciplinary project executed by Erasmus University (EUR), University for Techonolgy Delft (TUD), Willem de Kooning Art Academy Rotterdam, and the conservatoire of Rotterdam: Codarts. 
In Year 1 we each conducted research in our own discipline, namely: on listening (Codarts), on persuasive games (TUD) and aligned these with the cultural sociological perspective (EUR) on concert audiences and concert experience. In Year 2, based on the knowledge gained, we jointly built a prototype of a game called 'Listening Space'. A game for the smartphone, to be played prior to a (classical music) concert to train listening skills, through awareness and playful practice of different listening modes. In Year 3, again with the entire team, we designed an interdisciplinary gamified performance called “Listening Mutant 2021” during which the audience worked through a wide range of listening games and training. This time the games were not only about music listening but also about social listening (listening to other people). The performance was played for a specially recruited diverse audience, and included orchestral music, theatrical scenes, audience participation, a quiz, a debate, a (new) smartphone game, an audio (headphones) story, all integrated into a total experience with a festival atmosphere. Due to COVID-19, it was not produced (in a modified version) until Year 4, and for a smaller audience than we originally envisioned. Year 4 we then finished analyzing, writing and reflecting. 'Listening Space' produced modest positive effects, and 'Listening Mutant' a major positive effect. At the Willem de Kooning Academy in Years 2 and 3, we set up a GAMPSISS course in which all researchers taught. Students were asked to design listening games. Some of these served as inspiration for the games in “Listening Mutant 2021. Two sub-studies were also conducted under the accolade of GAMPSISS, namely a study on what happens when people listen to a piece of music repeatedly (listening diaries, EUR, yet to be published) and a combination of empirical research and extensive desk research (Codarts) on listening from a predominantly philosophical perspective, resulting in a paper titled 'A concise theory of listening' that can be used in conservatories and music practices. The PHD candidate also conducted several more studies on other persuasive games (yet to be published).

Discovering Afro-Cuban music as a classical musician was an outstanding moment in my career. Realizing how unusual it is for French Horns to be involved in this style inspired me to start this research and further develop my skills. Even though it is usual to find trombones and trumpets in Afro-Cuban music ensembles, it is challenging to find examples with French Horn players. Currently, the most successful horn player in this genre is Sarah Willis, who fell in love with Cuban rhythms and decided to share them by creating innovative albums. The methodology of this research includes a literature review of existing works related to Afro-Cuban music, interviews with experienced players in this field, and practical demonstrations in video form. The theoretical framework provides a brief review of Afro-Cuban music from its origins until today, paying special attention to the practically non-existent presence of French Horn players in this field. The practical framework collects data on the challenges that a classical French Horn player may encounter when playing this music and offers possible solutions. As a result of this study, I now have a better understanding of this style and why the horn is not usually included in it. Also, having the experience of playing Afro-Cuban music as a classical musician has clarified the differences and difficulties of approaching this music but more so how it can nourish my musical practice with new skills. The chosen format of presentation will be a public exposition of the results of the research.

Rasmus Albertsen is interviewed by Rasmus Albertsen about his film stop-motion animated film: "The Holy Mushroom". The text reflects on Albertsens thoughts about his proces: writing the story, creating the characters and the scenography. Furthermore it's about imperfect animation, nostalgia and archetypes.