Research Catalogue

Growing Likeness, a study in biological authored portraiture and bioart experiment in the aesthetics and value of bio-facial construction, challenging the sustainability of growing human-like structures in a deep-rooted vision. A mapping of intelligence systems disguised as human, this research strikes a visual analogy to the science and the system matrix of crop roots. The aesthetics and symbolic resemblance to the human head is a creative and philosophical query, provoking the viewer to challenge their perception, if in fact any, likeness to human identity. How is the biological intervention of the plant seedlings aiding the construct and metaphorical meaning of being human? Simple experiments with seeds, are in fact, a means to expand knowledge of leading science and technology research whilst communicating this knowledge through art. https://www.ecu.edu.au/schools/arts-and-humanities/ecu-galleries/past-exhibitions/related-content/exhibitions/2024/growing-likeness

In our exploration of the spatiality of language and, specifically, the activation of the site where writing "makes" rather than takes place, we propose a multilayered experience of the book as an object, as well as a geometrical, topological, and especially performative space, which we understand as an "ecology of the book". Extending this practice beyond the book's margins, yet simultaneously embedding it within the material and technical affordances of the book’s medial articulations, we evoke a "new" ecology—one unfolding alongside the interaction-landscape and its actual and invented inhabitants, as well as the techniques of its production. Texts, drawings, figures, figurations, methods, and both human and non-human authors weave together the heterogeneous texture of the book’s "new" ecology. In our monographs, "Fauna. Language Arts and the New Order of Imaginary Animals" (2018), "Flora. Language Arts in the Age of Information" (2020), and "Fiction Fiction. Language Arts and the Practice of Spatial Storytelling" (2023, De Gruyter/Edition Angewandte), we explore and map the territory of language arts. This approach manifests, on the one hand, through the transgression of traditional scientific methodologies and a shift in models—from thinking-of-the-other toward thinking-with-the-other, and on the other hand, through the agency of our eponymous characters, Fauna and Flora, who not only title our books but also act as conceptual operators—figures that navigate, perform, and activate the very spaces our texts explore. Applying Michel Serres' methodology of thinking by inventing personae, these characters move within and percolate through the margins of text (written, figural) and space (concrete, fictional), reconfiguring the notion of authorship and placing literary texts and digital drawings within the frame(less) collective of more-than-human and more-than-organic actants.

Conceived and co-organised by Emma Cocker, Alexander Damianisch, Cordula Daus and Lena Séraphin, this Society of Artistic Research Special Interest Group (SAR SIG) provides contexts for coming together via the exchange of language-based research. The intent is to support developments in the field of expanded language-based practices by inviting attention, time and space for enabling understanding of/and via these practices anew.

This exposition is part of the series The Sonic Atelier – Conversations with Contemporary Composers and Producers, dedicated to exploring the evolving role of the composer in the twenty-first century. Through a Q&A format, the project investigates how contemporary creators inhabit hybrid identities at the intersection of composition, production, performance, and technology. This interview features Federico Albanese, who reflects on his formation, his approach to integrating sound design and production into the act of writing, and his perspective on the transformations of today’s recording industry and streaming platforms. His insights shed light on central issues such as hybridity, authorship, and the value of craftsmanship in contemporary music-making.

This practice-driven PhD developed a body of art in response to the question, ‘what is it like to be a bird?’ The motivation was towards ethical action in an ecologically damaged world. Following Tim Ingold, the study sees the environment as a meshwork of multiple lines of becoming (or flight), along which the lives of creatures unfold and interconnect. In my detailed bird studies, my question acted as a lure towards a tantalising, but ultimately unreachable goal. In this way line of flights developed between me and birds, stimulating the creation of artworks. These aimed to enchant viewers and encourage a rethinking of the human/bird relationship. I used multiple media and methods informing each other synergistically. Ultraviolet photography revealed a hidden world, visible to birds, hence questioning the hegemony of the human view. Attaching a video camera to my dog disclosed, not just a stream of images from a new perspective, but the life of a being inhabiting the world bodily, full of energy, desires, fears, and movement. In the spirit of Donna Haraway’s speculative fabulations, I constructed a Birdsong-to-English translator. This produced intriguing phrases such as ‘future earth scream now!’, challenging the reductionist ‘fighting or flirting’ understanding of birdsong and reimagining the nature of human and animal language. Building on extensive observations, field notes and recordings, I developed a range of creative writing, resulting in a radio play, a gallery installation, and a poetry pamphlet. In the culminating work, Harrier Diaries, I combined text, photography and drawings, juxtaposing subjective and objective views to highlight lines of flight between birds, their environment and the observer. Despite aiming to know a bird’s view, I concluded that what matters is not knowing, but instead an intense wonder at the unknowable. I argue that this disposition is a vital prerequisites for ethical action.

This research investigates the active role of light as a core compositional element in contemporary music performance by exploring the integration of light, sound, and movement in real-time environments. Traditionally, light has been treated as a secondary aspect of performance, primarily serving as a means of illumination or visual enhancement. However, this study examines how light can function beyond this conventional role, actively shaping musical structure and influencing perception. Through the analysis of live performances and hands-on experimentation with analogue oscillators, photoresistors, and DMX systems, this research explores how these elements function as both medium and material within a piece. My compositions, alongside works by composers such as Viola Yip and Hugo Morales Murguía, serve as case studies, illustrating light’s transformation in performance from a passive visual aid to a structural force. These works highlight how light, when treated as a compositional element, reconfigures performer agency and audience perception. By challenging conventional notions of light in music, this research contributes to ongoing discussions on multimedia composition and performance aesthetics. It proposes an alternative perspective in which light is not merely an accessory to sound but an integral component of musical structure, expanding the possibilities for interdisciplinary performance practice.