Research Catalogue

HEIMILDALEIKSÝNINGIN: FÚSI, ALDUR OG FYRRI STÖRF. UM VERKIÐ: Fúsi, aldur og fyrri störf er heimildaleiksýning um Sigfús Sveinbjörn Svanbergsson. Verkið var frumsýnt 17. nóvember á Litla sviði Borgarleikhússins og var sýnt frá haustinu 2023 til vorsins 2025. Í sýningunni fer Fúsi yfir ævi sína og valin atriði úr fjölbreyttu lífi hans eru færð í leik- og söngbúning með aðstoð leikara og söngvara. Verkið fór í leikferð til Leikfélags Akureyrar og var sýnt á 80 ára afmæli Leikfélags Sólheima á Sólheimum í Grímsnesi. Fúsi er húmoristi, fótboltaáhugamaður, leikari, söngvari og lífskúnstner sem minnir okkur á að lífið er alltaf þess virði að lifa því þó að stundum sverfi að. Hindranirnar í lífi Fúsa hafa eflt hann og hvatt hann til að lifa lífinu til hins ítrasta með fötlun sinni og njóta hvers einasta dags. Stundum er lífsreynsla þó þess eðlis að aldrei verður fyllilega hægt að komast yfir hana, sama hversu jákvæður og sterkur einstaklingur er. Sýningin byggir á viðtölum við Fúsa, sem Agnar Jón Egilsson frændi hans og leikstjóri sýningarinnar tók við hann á meðan covid faraldrinum stóð. Tilurð sýningarinnar er því samband frændanna Fúsa og Agga og samverustundir þeirra. Í samstarfi við sviðslistaframleiðandann Monochorme og MurMur Productions LEIKARAR: Sigfús Sveinbjörn Svanbergsson, Agnar Jón Egilsson, Vala Kristín Eyríksdóttir, Þórunn Arna Krjistjánsdóttir, Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, Bergur Þór Ingólfsson og Egill Andrason. Leikstjóri: Agnar Jón Egilsson Höfundar: Agnar Jón Egilsson og Sigfús Sveinbjörn Svanbergsson Leikmynd og búningar: Svanhvít Thea Árnadóttir Aðstoðarleikstjóri: Ástbjörg Rut Jónsdóttir Tónlistarmaður. Egill Andrason Aðstoð við söng: Gísli Magna Framkvæmdastjórn: Davíð Freyr Þórunnarson fyrir MUR MUR Production. Tilnenefningar og verðlaun: Sýningin fékk Múrbrjótinn, viðurkenningu Landssamtakanna Þroskahjálpar árið 2024. Múrbrjóturinn er veittur þeim sem þykja hafa skarað framúr í að ryðja fötluðum nýjar brautir í átt til jafnréttis. Í rökstuðningi kom fram að verkið hlyti m.a. viðurkenninguna á forsendum þess að í Fúsi, aldur og fyrri störf sé skrifað og leikið af leikara með þroskahömlun og að það sé í fyrsta skipti sem slíkt gerist í atvinnuleikhúsi á Íslandi. Fúsi, aldur og fyrri störf fékk einnig hvatringarverðlaun ÖBÍ árið 2024. Hvatningarverðlaunin eru veitt þeim sem hafa með verkum sínum stuðlað að einu samfélagi fyrir alla og endurspegla nútímalegar áherslur um þátttöku, sjálfstæði og jafnrétti fatlaðs fólks. Fúsi, aldur og fyrri störf hlaut tvö Grímuverðlaun árið 2024, leikstjóra ársins og Sprotann (hvatnigarverðlaun Grímunnar). En sýninginn fékk samtals fjórar tilnefningar til Grímunnar 2024, fyrrnefndar tvær ásamt Sýningu ársins og Leikara ársins í aukahlutverki (Agnar Jón).

Professional Doctorate in Arts + Creative is an educational pilot programme in The Netherlands for an advanced degree in universities of applied sciences. The PD program at an university of applied sciences is developed to train an investigative professional. This portal is a platform for publishing artistic research generated by the PD candidates. Within the Professional Doctorate program, this portal will also be used as an internal tool for documentation. Only candidates who have been formally admitted to the PD Arts + Creative programme can connect with and contribute to this portal. For more information on how to apply, visit 'Who is part of the PD Arts + Creative programme' on our website

This project aims to develop transcultural approaches of inspiration (which we regard as mutually appreciated intentional and reciprocal artistic influence based on solidarity) by combining approaches from contemporary music composition and improvisation with ethnomusicological and sociological research. We encourage creative (mis)understandings emerging from the interaction between research and artistic practice, and between European art music, folk and non-western styles, in particular from indigenous minorities in Taiwan. Both comprehension and incomprehension yield serendipity and inspiration for new research questions, innovative artistic creation, and applied follow-ups among non-western communities. The project departs from two premises: first, that contemporary western art music as a practice often tends to resort to certain degrees of elitism; and second, that non-western musical knowledge is often either ignored or merely exploited when it comes to compositional inspiration. We do not regard inspiration as unidirectional, an “input” like recording or downloading material for artistic use. Instead, we foster artistic interaction by promoting dialogical and distributed knowledge production in musical encounters. Developing inter­disciplinary and transcultural methodologies of musical creation will contribute on the one hand towards opening up the—rightly or wrongly supposed—“ivory tower of contemporary composition”, and on the other hand will contribute towards the recognition of the artistic value of non-western musical practices. By highlighting the reciprocal nature of inspiration, creative (mis)understandings will result in socially relevant and innovative methodologies for creating and disseminating music with meaning. The methods applied in the proposed project will start out from ethnographic evidence that people living in non-western or traditional societies often use methods of knowledge production within the sonic domain which are commonly unaddressed or even unknown among western contemporary music composers (aside from exotist or orientalistic appropriations of “the other”). The project is designed in four stages: field research and interaction with indigenous communities in Taiwan with a focus on the Tao people on Lanyu Island, collaborative workshops in Vienna, an artistic research and training phase with invited indigenous Taiwanese coaches in Vienna, and feeding back to the field in Taiwan. During all these stages, exchange and coordination between composers, music makers, scholars and source community experts will be essential in order to reflect not only on the creative process, but also to analyse and support strong interaction between creation and society. Re-interaction with source communities as well as audience participation in the widest sense will help to increase the social relevance of the artistic results. The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW) will host the project. The contributors are Johannes Kretz (project leader) and Wei-Ya Lin (project co-leader, senior investigator) with their team of seven composers, ten artistic research partners from Taiwan and six artistic and academic consultants with extensive experience in the relevant fields.

This exposition takes as its departure the systemic inertia identified within Western Higher Music Education (HME), where education is driven by skill acquisition in a master–pupil format. Such approaches may hinder the growth of adaptable and reflective musicians. We propose an alternative: student-centred learning inspired by artistic research methods. To explicate this, we draw on findings through our own artistic research practices. Our hypothesis is that the model of the artistic, embodied research laboratory, as developed within the field of artistic research, may serve as a potent tool for renewal. By analysing our work as artist-researchers and educators, this exposition offers insights that support rethinking both institutional structures and pedagogical approaches in HME. Our aim is to strengthen student agency in learning situations and set them off on a path of lifelong learning. This research demonstrates that artistic research laboratories can provide practical frameworks for transforming HME pedagogy, offering educators concrete methods for fostering playful, inclusive, and sustainable learning environments whilst empowering students as active agents in their musical development.

Queer-identiteetti ja -tunteet lavalla, sen takana ja opetustyössä Kuvataiteen tohtorin opinnäytetyössäni tutkin queer-kuuntelemisen merkitystä taiteellisena käytäntönä ja tutkimusmenetelmänä. Tässä ekspositiossa haastattelen drag alter egoani Maimu Brushwoodia, jonka kanssa keskustelen sukupuolesta, tunteista ja pedagogiikasta. Haastattelu perustuu tutkimukseni toiseen taiteelliseen osuuten, mikä oli drag-esitys, jonka esitin kahtena iltana Club Kiihko: Uuden toivon illassa Kulttuurikeskus Caisassa Helsingissä 27. ja 28.6.2024. Ekspositiossa on haastattelun lisäksi drag-esityksen videotallenne ja kirjoitustehtävä, jonka tarkoitus on syventää esitykseni teemoja.

Tässä ekspositiossamme esittelemme veden-kanssa-kirjoittamisen praktiikkaamme kirjoittamisen taiteellisena tutkimuksena, poeettisena etsintänä. Veden-kanssa-kirjoittaessamme olemme tarkastelleet suhdettamme veteen, myös vesiin sisällämme, sekä yksilöllisesti että yhdessä erilaisia tekstejä tuottaen. Ekspositiossamme esittelemme tämän taiteellisen praktiikan tuotoksia sekä reflektoimme niitä poeettisia, poliittisia ja pedagogisia suuntia, joita veden-kanssa-kirjoittaminen voi avata – sekä meille että laajemmin, maailmalle. Teoreettisia lähtöhtiamme ovat feministinen posthumanismi ja uusmaterialismi sekä niiden piirissä harjoitettu hydrofeminismi. Lisäksi suhteutamme veden-kanssa-kirjoittamista keskusteluihin feministisestä pedagogiikasta, taiteilijapedagogiikasta ja ympäristöpedagogiikasta sekä veden merkityksistä kirjallisuudessa. Uskomme, että runouden avulla voi kielentää sellaisia kokemuksia, joita on muutoin vaikea muotoilla sanoiksi. Väitämme, että hankalasti sanallistettavien kokemusten poeettinen kielentäminen tuottaa ymmärryksiä ihmisten suhteista enemmän-kuin-inhimilliseen, kuten siitä, miten tehdä taidetta muuttuvassa maailmassa, eettisessä suhteessa enemmän-kuin-inhimilliseen. In English: "On Becoming Sensitized - Practices and Orientations for Writing-with-water as Artist Pedagogy" In this exposition, we explore what we call 'writing-with-water', a practice of artistic research in writing, a "poetic search". While writing-with-water, we have explored our relationship(s) with water – including the waters within us – both individually and together, producing different texts. Here, we share our artistic explorations and reflect on the poetic, political, and pedagogical directions our artistic practice and research opens up. Our theoretical starting points are feminist posthumanism and new materialism, but we also discuss our method in the context of hydrofeminism (as part of the aforementioned theoretical frameworks), feminist pedagogy, artist pedagogy, and environmental pedagogy, as well as the literary meanings and uses of water. It is our belief that through poetic practices and explorations, it is possible to express experiences that are otherwise difficult to put into words. We claim that these experiences, and the ways they are expressed in poetic language, can lead to better understandings of human relationships with the more-than-human; including how to make art ethically with the more-than-human in our rapidly changing world.