Research Catalogue

ARTikulationen 2023 is an artistic research event conceived and organised by the Doctoral School for Artistic Research (KWDS) of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG). It takes place at Theater im Palais, Graz, 04–07 October 2023. ARTikulationen interweaves in-depth presentations of very recent artistic research and findings, a festival character, and a mini-symposium – this year on matters of interdisciplinarity and interconnectedness of research practices with the (sound) environment, nature, and other living beings („Researching Across“).

Art activism is powerful. Also known as activist art, protest art, visual activism, artivism and creative activism, it changes lives, situations and is and has been a powerful weapon across a whole spectrum of struggles for justice. Teresa Sanz & Beatriz Rodriguez-Labajos(2021) relay that art activism has the unique ability to bring cohesion and diverse peoples together and it can, as Zeynep Tufekci notes, change the participants (2017). As Steve Duncombe & Steve Lambert (2021) posit, traditional protesting such as marches or squats are no longer as important as they once were. As a result of my own lived experience in activist activities, I very much agree with Andrew Boyd & Dave Oswald Mitchell (2012) that the reason people use art activism is that it works, by enriching and improving protest. In the past, when I lived in a metropolis and was not a parent, I used to be an activist. Now I no longer have immediate access to international headquarters at which to protest and I have to be concerned with being arrested, I am hindered from protesting. This project is an attempt to increase inclusion and widen access to art activism. By devising methods which include at least one of the following: that do not require on-site participation, that can take place outside the public gaze, that reduce the risk of arrest, that open up protest sites that are not “big targets”, that include remote locations, that involve irregular timing, my thesis aims to increase inclusion and widen access to art activism to those who are underserved by more mainstream methods of conducting art activism. Textiles have unique properties that enable them to engage in subterfuge and speak loudly through care and thought(Bryan-Wilson, 2017). They have strong connotations of domesticity, the body and comfort that can be subverted within art activism to reference lack of this domestic warmth and protection(O’Neill, 2022). Being a slow form of art-making, they show care and thought, attention in the making, so that the messaging is reinforced through this intentionality in slow making.

WALKING AS PRACTICE WAP23 was a process-based residency during September-November 2023, where artists using walking as a method delved into each others’ knowledges and things they encountered together at BKN, the Northern Stockholm Archipelago in Sweden. Fieldworks, share sessions and seminars were created jointly to locate and entangle structures, narratives and themes for walking. The residency formed a transformative, dynamic space for art that engaged with life and nature towards critical and poetic explorations, influenced by the immediate surroundings: the forest, lakes, sea and people living in the rural area. Processing how walking is interlocked in our artistic practices, this exposition represents a gathering of texts, visuals and audio from the walking art residency. The selected artists contributed with interdisciplinary practices, primarily drawing, photography, video, performance and dance. They worked both individually, in spontaneous constellations and in group sessions. The dissemination of the program took place in share sessions upon arrival of new artists - including dinners, open studios, walks, workshops etc. In addition, as the program unfolded, each artist developed their own exposition.

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.