Research Catalogue

This page welcomes newcomers from Fontys to engage with the Research Catalogue. (For Fontys Master students & Staff only)

Each technology exerts a change in the acoustic environment. The development of mobile phones has expanded the space-time limits of sound and the ability to interfere in the forms of socialization and relationship with places. In addition to reproducing the voice, these devices promote multilayer listening that adds ringtones, notifications, alerts, and any sound generated by applications or accessible through the Internet. This research aims to study contemporary listening mediated by mobile phones, analyzing the disruptive effect generated by their sounds and listening through loudspeakers or buzzer speakers, technical means that articulate sonorities, and acoustic perceptions that limit information and add noise. The methodology used is hybrid. It focuses mainly on Arts-Based Research with experimental practices that explore techniques, materials, and media, as well as qualitative methods that provide points of view and opinions, fieldwork recording sounds, and pedagogy toward designing strategies that encourage other listening perspectives. The results materialize in pieces and panels in the form of installations that show different models of mobile phone loudspeakers, highlighting their aesthetic, technical, and symbolic aspects. The panel contains loudspeakers placed on sound-absorbing acoustic foam, and the listening sound soundscapes as maps that connect to the idea of the typical sound diversity of these devices (activated by sensors or buttons). Among other topics, the work deals with the archeology of the media and the precarious sounds that extend low-fidelity listening.

CONFERENCE, UNIVERSITY OF PORTO. October 16, 17, 18th, 2024 :: Drawing Across :: Along :: Between University Borders considers the epistemological and transformative potential of drawing research to connect divergent areas in the university today. The conference focuses on drawing-based collaborations between art, science and society to tackle artistic, educational and societal challenges. We invite artists, scientists, educators, students, university policymakers and persons interested in inter-transdisciplinary practices across academia, research, and society to contribute and join the discussion in three possible directions: ACROSS - In what ways are drawing practitioners challenging the disciplinary strictures that often constrain thinking and acting across divergent areas in the university? ALONG - How can drawing activities be an ally of STEM education in the university, and how can STEM practices be an ally of drawing education? BETWEEN - How can drawing-based practices and STEM disciplines collaborate to address the urgency of societal challenges?

Pamela Breda’s (Digital Arts) contribution "Notes On Artificial Intelligence And The Rise Of New Images" explores how hyper-realistic computer-generated images (CGI) reshape our perception of reality and its implications for human creativity. Her considerations stem from an ongoing interdisciplinary artistic research project that combines positions from visual cultural studies, cognitive psychology, and perceptual theory with historical perspectives. Breda’s contribution reflects on the historical background of CGI, its influence on various domains of individual and collective life, and its philosophical implications, her contribution provides current viewpoints on the position of AI and its past implications.

Thomas Ballhausen's (author and philosopher) and Elena Peytchinska's (Institute of Fine Arts & Media Art – Stage and Film Design) contribution "Herbarium of Words: Literary Style at the Scale of a Street" artistically explores the interrelations of space, language, and literature and takes us on a walk through Vienna’s streets. The herbarium serves as a point of departure for historical observations, which is seen as a form of subjective and personal archiving of urban experiences by means of linguization. Their performative approach combines film stills, poetry, and theoretical backgrounds to transform the boundaries of text and bibliographic formats.

Research Document of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2023. BA Photography. The research paper serves as a base for understanding the memories on a case of a person with dementia and their connections to the medium of photography. Photography is used as an attempt to retrieve my grandmother’s autobiographical memories which are often hard to retrieve. It is based on the assumption that every memory, no matter how vague, is still accessible by restoring to a proper process, similar to the latent image on the photographic film that becomes visible only after appropriate processing. Based on existing experimental memory research I constructed a method of finding a cue that can trigger specific memories in a conversation. Photographic images from the past were used as a base of the conversation. In most cases, they didn’t directly trigger involuntary memory, but they served as a starting point for a conversation, allowing my grandmother to start actively thinking about a period of her life. Due to dementia, the responses within one conversation were often repeated, yet after some time, the chain reaction of retrieving memories allowed her to remember some specific details. Her understanding of the fragility of memories was constantly present. On multiple occasions, she expressed that an artificial device, such as photography or writing, should be used to preserve them. The research doesn’t give a complete understanding of how memories and their retrieval work in general, but it gives a better understanding of how it can efficiently be done with my grandmother. The process I developed can be applied to other people if properly adjusted to them. I believe that essentially what counts is not what kind of cue we choose, but that we patiently take time to listen and guide conversations with some previous knowledge about their past.