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).

The aim of this PD project is to bring artists and citizens together with each other and their environment, and collectively explore how the wordless voice can be a means of communication. Artists leading this project bring understanding from the multiple fields in which they are working – music, theatre, visual arts, and circus. In addition to the collective exploration of connection, the objective is to propose a methodology (which combines and develops from a range of existing methods and is provisionally termed “Resonant Cycles”) and investigate if it can have a transformative impact on the subjectivities of the individual participants. The project involves interventions in the field of performing arts with the goal of modeling less language-dependent and more inclusive, sensory-rich experiences of cross-disciplinary creation and performance. It invites a holistic and immersive experience of performing arts that brings the physical voice to the forefront and prompts reflection on the essence and meaning of vocal sound regardless of language, and the way that sound itself functions as a means of communication.

This research is an advanced research of Metamorphosis - Ethics and Aesthetics are One - from a Neuroscientific Perspective in 2024. I explore post feminist theory from a new perspective in the 21st century. Thereby I deal with spatiality between virtual reality and physical space theoretically and practically. Wittgenstein's "Ethics and Aesthetics are one" is the starting point of this research. "In the Notebooks, Wittgenstein states that 'the world and life are one', so perhaps the following can be said. Just as the aesthetic object is the single thing seen as if it were a whole world, so the ethical object, or life, is the multiplicity of the world seen as a single object". (Diané Collinson, The British Journal of Aesthetics, Volume 25, Issue 3, SUMMER 1985, pages 266-272) Art transcends boundaries of race, nationality and gender. It is a creative act of unifying in the context of humanity, from the subject to the various topics, by asking questions. This point is the lack of "reality" (dealing with reality) from a sociological perspective. But it is impossible to define humanity and reality based on sociological statistics alone–is my perspective of Wittgenstein's "Ethics and Aesthetics are one". Thereby, I examine 'world and life' from the 21st century perspective.

Este ensaio tem como objetivo apresentar uma reflexão, em forma de registro de memórias sobre as experiências relacionadas à obra "Terceira Mão", tanto em seu aspecto simbólico quanto em sua materialidade. Esta investigação artística insere-se no contexto do doutoramento em Artes Plásticas na Universidade do Porto. A primeira mão segura a matéria, o tocável A segunda mão segura o espírito, o sensível A terceira mão segura a todos nós, é o que todos temos em comum. Segura eu, você e o outro, em uma rede de tafetá, ligados à terceira mão e a todos. Os olhos ligam a percepção do material com o sensível espiritual. Percepção simbólica visual. Olhar para o interior. Ver além do visível. Toque etéreo. Gesto de benção. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This essay aims to reflect, in the form of a memoir, on the experiences related to the work Third Hand, both in its symbolic aspect and materiality. This artistic research is part of the context of my doctorate in Plastic Arts at the University of Porto. The first hand holds matter, the tangible The second hand holds the spirit, the sensitive The third hand holds us all, it's what we have in common. It holds me, you, and the other in a taffeta net, connected to the third hand and everyone. The eyes connect the perception of the material with the sensitive spiritual. Visual symbolic perception. Looking inwards. Seeing beyond the visible. Ethereal touch. A gesture of blessing.

Russia’s war of aggression is a multidimensional process of conquest that expands its time and space through sound. As Russian forces continue their advance into Ukraine, seizing Ukrainian territories both “horizontally” and “vertically,” as warfare scholar Svitlana Matviyenko (2024) has argued, Ukrainians across the country find themselves living in the sonic expanse of Russian assault. This research paper refers to this experience as one of warbound, of a (sonically) lived relation to war. To explore this relation and situated relationality it may entail, I turn to the work of Ukrainian sound artists and practitioners who participated in collective audio streaming, seeking to recast the Ukrainian testimony of the Russian invasion as a contingent truth claim. The paper examines the 2022 iteration of the audio stream project Listen Live, constitutive to the Land To Return, Land To Care research-creation laboratory. The project is studied in the scope of its testimonial reach and activist pursuit, as well as its humanist and posthumanist performativity.

This project identifies a shortcoming in the range and coherence of the language that musicians use, in particular the Norwegian instrumental traditional music (folk music), when they aim to communicate the craft elements of their practice. The Craftmanship project identifies craft as deep knowledge that is a result of skills based activities that again result in tacit knowledge. This knowledge has traditionally been communicated between practitioners or from master to apprentice through a series of subtle cues, ideas or metaphors, which resist language – it is learned through experience and a form attunement between the participants. The project therefore, proposes to develop a vocabulary, based on and drawn from a practitioner’s perspective, through the “languaging” of keywords, and a critique of scores in order to revitalise the transmission of this knowledge for a new generation of musicians. Furthermore, it proposes that when attunement happens, it facilitates profound moments in performances, where the musician and audience reach a tacit recognition. The project proposes that these moments, colloquially described as ‘Magic Moments’ are the aim of most musicians in performance situations. These moments are often dependent on social situations. The project aims to construct a framework for further investigation of the contexts within which these moments manifest themselves.