Research Catalogue

PhD Artistic Research project environment embodiment - towards poetic narratives (2020-2024) by Fernanda Branco at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. This artistic research explores experiential agency in encounters between body and environment. It draws from uncanny, embodied and poetic perspectives, unfolding as a constellation of sympoietic practices. Webdesign by Ellen Palmeira Illustrations by Aza

Islington studio flat 4, at 14 Barnsbury Road, London, 2022, privately rented. Interior design as an art installation. Looted, 2024. My personal belongings were still at the property for two months, after I left on 27 March 2024 and was asked to collect them by 3 or 4 April 2024 from Woolwich. They moved in two or three under aged, who I have never met and were pretending to be my daughters. They must have been removing them one by one over the last few months and until October 2024. 14 Barnsbury Road was deemed illegal through the courts, on 22 April, shortly after I was forced to leave in March. The maintenance employed many Polish citizens, all dressed in black with black caps, like all XRW supporters dress. Twenty-one (20+1) digital photographs for twenty (20) missing Albanian and of Albanian ethnicity non-EU immigrants and one (1) missing Italian citizen. The twenty-one persons whose details got stolen were abducted by Golden Dawn, the NRM and possibly Forza Nuova; they are deceased. My personal details were also stolen. Was I going yo be the twenty-second? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loot_(magazine) Investigatory research with artworks. The artworld has been traditionally male dominated. This has changed a little bit in contemporary art, but not dramatically. Female artists have sometimes adopted male attitudes or personas to break into the art scene; notably, Sarah Lucas and Tracey Emin from the YBA movement. I hold the view that art is not gendered, for instance that there is no art for women or so-called feminine art. Good art transcends such categories, tapping into more universal experiences. For Chris, who was suddenly transferred by his employer, from London, where his daughter lives, to somewhere outside of London; and for Lawrence, whose temporary post was prematurely terminated, though he was planning to return to his legal studies. To all those who don't just "play" the cultural and racial diversity clause. See exposition in connection with "The (Origins of) The Game".

Sculpted and painted wood, combined with treated rusty objects. Duct tape with boat paint models for metal sheet sculptures, 2020. Digital drawings, 2021, 2023. Dutch steel sailing boat part-restoration and renovation, Amsterdam (with Sean A. Hladkyj), 2019-20. Relief and improvised sculptures made with industrial paints, as well as found objects, were exposed to weather conditions, including heavy rain and wind, over a few months on a floating timber raft. Working with the changes the weather was causing to the ad hoc studio, I made changes until the painting was finished, photographed, then dumped. The relief was collected. I applied the colours from those available in a symbolic manner, abstracting the view of a ghetto in a large city. The objects stand for the landmarks. The pieces would comprise of the scenography for a theatre performance, informed by my conversations with a theatre lighting technician. The event would also include a donation event of the art objects. See external link for the theatre play, based on the tradition of the philosophical dialogue and employing the idea of performing philosophy to make it accessible to a wider audience. Political asylum has been traditionally offered to people who flee from their countries of origin and citizenship, because of violations of their dignity, which is a human right, for their political beliefs and related activities. Currently, seven human rights of mine, five basic, have been infringed in the United Kingdom, where I have been a citizen since 2011; the origin is my native Greece. Political asylum is only offered to people, who are non-citizens of the country where asylum is sought from. At the same time, political asylum has become harder to offer, due to the global nature of persecution of whoever is perceived as a dissident. Since 2013, Forza Nuova, the Italian affiliate of the Greek Golden Dawn, has participated in the organised international criminal case, of which I have been the target, originating from my native Greece, "accelerating" in the Netherlands and the UK in 2020, Covid-19. This happened with the theft of my personal details, specifically my Greek driver's license number, by Italians, in Amsterdam in the winter of 2020. My number was used for three fake Italian driver's licenses for criminal activity in the UK. Notably, Roberto Fiore, Forza Nuova's leader, inherited briefly Alessandra Mussolini's post in the EU parliament. Nevertheless, the Italian government settled in the summer of 2024 one remaining fake Italian passport for a fictitious Albanian citizen, probably in connection with Forza Nuova, after mediation with the Albanian government. Drawing on the philosophical notion of impossible objects, the works attempted an indirect postcolonial critique; a suggestion for alternative, autonomous and communitarian lifestyles; and a performative metaphor for global refugees. At the time, in autumn 2019, I had attended an environmental protest in Amsterdam that was generally peaceful. Investigatory research with artworks, some of it carried out in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where I was a philosophy student, from 2017 until late 2019, and remained until autumn 2020. I did not have student insurance, as it was obligatory, because I was covered by the NHS through EHIC (European Community coverage, when the UK was still in the EU), since the UK was still in the EU. I didn't have travel insurance either. Presentation of work in progress. See exposition in connection with "The (Origins of) The Game".

SONIC EQUITY This exposition investigates questions of inclusion, equity, and decolonisation through the central voice of the Brazilian berimbau. Drawing on the approaches of artistic research, musical case studies are employed to investigate the core concepts, including the solo berimbau work of Adriano Adewale, as well as duo dialogues between Adriano Adewale on berimbau and Nathan Riki Thomson on double bass, seen through the conceptual lens of third space. Findings emerge in terms of uncovering and reimagining the unique, experimental sonic possibilities of the berimbau and the ways they can be utilized for artistic expression in both solo and duo playing. Through shining a light on the unique possibilities of the berimbau, questions arise in terms of why this instrument and its interconnected traditions have not been given equal space and value within higher music education, highlighting the need for institutions to continually reassess their policies through the lens of decolonisation. The artistic investigations further reveal issues related to the need for equity in music and music education, pointing towards a decolonised future where marginalized instruments such as the berimbau are given space and valued equally alongside all forms of musical expression. This connects back to the fundamental human need to be seen, acknowledged, and valued in our world, which is a commonality we can perhaps all relate to. Key words: berimbau, equity, decolonisation, interculturalism, higher music education, third space.

The difference in embodiment experience when transitioning from one piano to another is highly complex, not to mention the transition from a modern piano to a 19th-century historical piano, as playing techniques were also different. As the modern piano is very different from 19th-century keyboard instruments such as the fortepiano, it can be difficult for a modern pianist to understand the techniques used in the 19th century, and why. While it may be impossible to perfectly reconstruct the playing of 19th-century pianists, this study focused on the process of reimagining the 19th-century playing techniques on historical instruments from the perspective of a 21st-century pianist which will help develop understanding towards the potential roles and impact of these techniques, recognize the connections between instruments and techniques, as well as their influence on my playing as a pianist-researcher. Through this artistic practice, the feedback and observations from these experiences in the form of reflection logs were used to uncover the roles and effects of these techniques. This exposition will discuss a performer-researcher’s experience with references to the current literature, demonstrate how these techniques help narrow the gap between the modern and period instruments, especially in terms of touch and control, and investigate the effects of the artistic practice on dynamics and phrasing. Video clips of performances on both modern grand piano and historical instruments such as the fortepiano will also be included to better demonstrate the different approaches.

This exposition refers to arts-based research on simultaneous performative walking and singing practice in a changing environment. The act of walking is put in the context of landscape and singing representing two aspects of relation to the environment – inner and outer landscape. The object of research is traditional and authorial songs and their bodily and sensual interconnection with the process of experiencing landscape. This experience is gained with a group of artists and environmentalists who have over the course of more than a year repetitively walked through the landscape of the natural park Prokop Valley in Prague and its adjacent urban areas. Qualitative research is taken within the project “Walking as a liquid constant in urban space and landscape”. The method of data collection uses mental maps, inspired by the concept of Kevin Lynch, as a means of documentation. The exposition has three parts 1) the opening video essay, 2) Opus caementicium, autoethnographic reflection of the site, where the project takes place, and 3) Fugue of the vanishing world – an essay on the musical aspect of the project. Chapter titles are inspired by musical terminology that has content connotations in the text or mirrors the structuring of text and musical compositions.