Research Catalogue

Arts-based-philosophy is an emerging research concept at the cutting edge of the arts, philosophy and the Sciences in which cross-disciplinary research collectives align their research practices to finally stage their investigations in field-performances, shared with the public. Our research explores the significance of the HEART in artistic research and performance philosophy from a cross-cultural perspective, partially based on the concepts of the HEART in the works of two artist-philosophers, in which philosophy already became arts-based-philosophy: Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Aurobindo’s poetic opus magnum Savitri. We generally assume that the works of artist-philosophers are not only engaged in “creating concepts” (Deleuze), but their concepts are also meant to be staged artistically to let them bodily matter in fact. The role of the HEART in respect to this process of “bodily mattering” is the core objective under investigation: Firstly, because we hold that atmospheres trigger the HEART of a lived-body to taste the flavor of things it is environmentally engaged with basically in an aesthetic manner (Nietzsche). In this respect the analysis of the classical notion for the aesthete in Indian philosophy and aesthetics, sahṛdaya––which literally means, “somebody, with a HEART”––becomes crucial. Secondly, because the HEART is said to be not just reducible to one’s manifest Nature, but has access to one’s virtual Nature as well. The creation hymn in the oldest of all Vedas (Rgveda) for instance informs us that a HEART is capable of crossing being (sat) & non-being (asat), which makes it fluctuate among these two realms and even allows its aspirations to let virtual possibilities matter. Such concepts show striking similarities with contemporary concepts in philosophy-physics, e.g. the concepts of “virtual particles” and “quantum vacuum fluctuations” (Barad).

short bio and cv

Deslocamentos trânsatlânticos em ambos sentidos. 8500km de distância. Quatro gerações. Um edifício.

The artistic research project I HAVE THE MOON was an experimental group activity or 'band retreat' for five composer-performers resulting in a public performance in the aDevantgarde Festival, 2019, in Munich. Research was conducted around a central research question stated verbally at the outset of the project: how can aesthetic innovations of contemporary classical music be made accessible to audiences without specialist education or background via communicative techniques of other music genres? After a substantial verbal discussion and sessions of musical jamming, each member created an artistic response to the research question, in the form of a composition or comprovisation, which the group then premiered in the aDevantgarde Festival. The results of the discussion, artistic works and final performance (by means of a video documentation) were then analysed by the project leader and presented in this article. The artistic research position is defined a priori through the research question, during the artistic process in the form of note-taking and multimedial documentation, and a posteriori through a (novel) 'Workflow-Tool-Application Analysis' (WTAA). Together, a method of 'lingocentric intellectual scaffolding' on the emobided knowledge inside the creative process is proposed. Insofar as this embodied knowledge can be seen as a 'field' to be researched, the methodology is built on collaborative autoethnography, 'auto-', since the project leader took part in the artistic process, guiding it from within.

Digital Demons deals with themes of religion, shamanism and spirituality. These are some traces of media matter that surfaced during the two year masters program The Art of Impact at Stockholm University of the Arts. Among them are videographic essays, video sketches and a recorded performance that all have worked as research tools for finding an aesthetic language and narration structure that can be used in documentary and hybrid filmmaking.

Although I love attending traditional classical music concerts, I have long felt that they missed certain aspects that would make them more relatable to the inner world of the audience. In this research exposition, I argue that this missing aspect is a social element and I guide the reader through a possible application of social themes to a classical music concert. On a formal level, I use the techniques of psychodrama – a form of group therapy – as a tool from which I borrow some fundamental concepts, along with the conception of characters, to understand how social themes can be addressed in a context in which multiple people connect to the same object. In this case, the object of common interest is the representation on stage. On a substantial level, I draw upon material I collected in my interviews with Clara Scarafia to study a social theme she has been directly involved with: suicide. The two levels are brought together in my pilot session, where I experiment through a sample of the complete performance I am designing and an audience questionnaire how psychodrama and the interview interact and influence one another. The goal is to show that the classical repertoire, with its complex emotional kaleidoscope and non-verbal language, can easily bear a social theme and enhance the collective reflection of relevant themes in our times.