Research Catalogue

"My Public Stage" is not merely an artistic practice; it is a dynamic fusion of performance art and civic engagement that transcends conventional boundaries. At its core, this practice navigates the intricate relationship between the artist and the public sphere, offering an unconventional perspective on how art can reshape our understanding of the world. The essential aspect of this artistic journey lies in the intentional placement of artistic interventions and performances within public spaces, where the encounter with viewers is not a predetermined spectacle but a meeting. This deliberate approach seeks to dissolve the traditional separation between the artist and the individual, fostering a unique connection that is spontaneous and genuine. I view public space as not only a material but also a social environment that is produced, reshaped and restructured by the citizens through their experiences, their intentions for action and the relations they develop in it. My project draws on Lefebvre’s (2019) approach to urban public space not as a neutral container of social life, but as a fluid entity, both constructed and produced by social practices. Lefebvre’s approach confirms and expands my view that public space is not fixed, yet it requires a conscious effort to intervene in its production. The philosophy driving "My Public Stage" aligns with the concept of civic engagement. By presenting long durational performances in the heart of everyday life, the artist consciously assumes the role of a creator, using performance art as a medium to unveil the interconnected elements that bridge art with life. This philosophy echoes the sentiment of Joseph Beuys, who believed that everyone is an artist, actively sculpting the intricate sculpture we call life. In embracing the public sphere as its canvas, this practice transcends the conventional boundaries of art and daily reality. It becomes a catalyst for a different perspective on how individuals perceive and engage with their surroundings. The transformative power of performance art is harnessed to reveal the latent artistic potential within each person, emphasizing the symbiotic relationship between art and life.

The research explores 'ornamenting' as a transferable method in inter-disciplinary studies, inter-faith dialogues and artistic/therapeutic practices. Adapting techniques of Renaissance musicology, the processes we have developed de-create and re-create vital connections. It is a communica-tions strategy for times of crisis. Starting with simple sonic relations we extend the method far be-yond its traditional musical setting. The practice utilises 'Nothingness' as a component of creativity, providing a novel response to figurations of nothingness as mere negation. Preliminary results sug-gest its potential as a counter force to nihilism and social dislocation. The work divides into four areas. 1. Primary research on relationships between sound, meaning, and the sense(s) of self, exploring how sense is made of Otherness via processes akin to musical praxis: consonance, dissonance, 'pure voice' and ornamentation. 2. To apply this new perspective to a range of exile experiences – mourning, social disconnection, ex-communication and aggres-sive 'Othering'. 3. To investigate the cancelling of normal time-conditions in crisis situations such as trauma, dementia, and mystical experience, relating non-linear temporality to creative practice and healing. 4. To widely disseminate our results and methods as contributions to the methodology of artistic research via journal articles, live workshops and performances, and a book of original, praxical, testable, and teach-able interventions.

(EN) "Imperial coffe breaks" is a transdisciplinary seminar format that deals with challenges of perception and possible transformations of academic time and space, using a ritual as example of shared identities and multiplicities. A Greek coffee is a Turkish coffee, a Palestinian, Egyptian, Lebanese, Bosnian, Armenian, Cypriot and more. Grinded a bit more finely or a bit more roughly, served in a cup with or without a handle, with cardamon or not, with sugar or without. During our meetings we prepare and serve this coffee with the multiple “originalities”, while we discuss written and oral histories and practices around the beverage. Starting from the Ethiopian berry that spread with the Ottoman Empire, the bean that still holds a strong presence in Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa and the Balkans, the powder that comes to foam and its local variations, we will talk about other Empires, slavery, cargo boats, plantations, corporates and associations/meanings/roles/origins of coffee trade and consumption in our daily routines. As this kind of coffee is traditionally also served in memorials, we will inevitably discuss loss and grief. We will also talk about relations to the future through tasseography (cup reading divination) that is another strong tradition. We will look at epistemological effects, ways we construct truth and meaning and ways to work with random patterns. Finally, we will exercise cleaning up our mess after the gatherings. Through sharing and rotating the roles, we will practice rituals of togetherness and empathy, thinking with coffee and with each other, about the origins and futures of otherwise unremarkable things in our daily life. (DE) „Imperial coffe breaks“ ist ein transdisziplinäres Seminarformat, das sich mit den Herausforderungen der Wahrnehmung und möglichen Transformationen von akademischen Zeiten und Räumen befasst und dabei ein Ritual als Beispiel für gemeinsame Identitäten und Verschiedenheiten verwendet. Ein griechischer Kaffee ist ein türkischer Kaffee, ein palästinensischer, ägyptischer, libanesischer, bosnischer, armenischer, zyprischer, kurdischer. Etwas feiner oder etwas gröber gemahlen, in einer Tasse mit oder ohne Henkel, mit Kardamom oder ohne, mit Zucker oder ohne. Bei unseren Treffen bereiten wir diesen Kaffee mit den vielfältigen „Eigenheiten“ zu und servieren ihn, während wir über schriftliche und mündliche Überlieferungen und Praktiken rund um das Getränk diskutieren. Ausgehend von der äthiopischen Kaffeebeere, die sich mit dem Osmanischen Reich verbreitete, über die Bohne, die im östlichen Mittelmeerraum, in Nordafrika und auf dem Balkan nach wie vor stark vertreten ist, bis hin zum Pulver, das aufgeschäumt wird, und seinen lokalen Variationen, werden wir über andere Reiche, Sklaverei, Frachtschiffe, Plantagen, Unternehmen und Vereinigungen/Bedeutungen/Rollen/Ursprünge des Kaffeehandels und -konsums in unserem Alltag sprechen. Da diese Art von Kaffee traditionell auch bei Gedenkfeiern serviert wird, werden wir unweigerlich über Verlust und Trauer sprechen. Wir werden auch über die Beziehung zur Zukunft durch Tasseografie (Wahrsagen aus dem Kaffesatzlesen) sprechen, die eine weitere starke Tradition ist. Wir werden uns mit erkenntnistheoretischen Effekten befassen, mit der Art und Weise, wie wir Wahrheit und Bedeutung konstruieren, und mit der Art und Weise, wie wir mit zufälligen Mustern arbeiten. Schliesslich werden wir üben, nach den Versammlungen aufzuräumen. Durch das Teilen und das Rotieren der Rollen werden wir Rituale der Zusammengehörigkeit und Empathie praktizieren und mit Kaffee und miteinander über die Ursprünge und die Zukunft von ansonsten unauffälligen Dingen in unserem täglichen Leben nachdenken.

In this half paper, half soliloquy, I aim to propose re-enactment as a research method. Through textual analysis and situated reflections, I will explore the potential of re-enactments in performative returning to destabilize and reconfigure canonical understandings of the past, and consider any implications this understanding of re-enactment can have within research approaches

In this study I elaborate on how Charms unfolds as a plastic experimentation rooted in an initial vision of the body. It is grounded in a reimagined body image, constructed from other imagined bodies, such as the anatomical flayed figure and protective devices. This study explores the notion of the body turned upside down —both literally and conceptually — reconfigured through an armor-like structure in which flesh paradoxically assumes the role of an external layer. The resulting image is of a body that is both armored and exposed, charged with contradictions that disrupt binary oppositions such as inside/outside, alive/dead, human/animal, and powerful/fragile. This hyperbolic Charms, constructed from two distinct costumes, is offered for visual contemplation, recurring within contemporary visual culture as a manifestation of the scientific body still subjected by imagination and visceral sensation. The work, a multichannel video installation, also investigates the body’s capacity to generate imaginaries through movement, employing measurement tools from the biomechanics research laboratory to visualize this dynamic relationship.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, we, in our role as lecturers, conducted hybrid workshops with design and art students from ten partner institutions on five continents. Our goal was to explore soundscapes from different viewpoints, and we were deeply impressed by the outcome. The recordings and their accompanying images and conversations dissolved geographical borders along with social, cultural, and structural differences. Following Hartmut Rosa, we understand this atmosphere of connection produced between the participants and the soundscapes themselves to be a resonance space, which only became explicit to us after some time had passed. In this article, we re-interpret this space through personal recollections and theoretical positions, and claim that such a collaboration holds pedagogical and artistic implications for future teaching and creative practice. These include not only the impact upon technology in the classroom, temporal perception, inter-relationality, and care practices, but also the artistic benefits of opening up spaces of resonance as a means of engaging with the challenge of intercultural communication and witnessing in our global world.