Research Catalogue

Exploring the affordances of Larping in virtual reality.

This project tackles the issue of describing, composing, and perceiving vocality in a synthetic context, highlighting an experiential approach to the perception of a vocal signal. The research primarily focuses on the idea of fusions of sounds, particularly fusions between synthetic and natural voice, where the resulting quality enriches a vocal experience through the ambiguities and multiplicities it brings forth. Design choices and aesthetical considerations of a computer program for vocal synthesis are then discussed in relation to my own approaches to vocal composition.

Abstract In the evolving landscape of contemporary art, the value of failure and experimentation plays a central role in reshaping artistic research. This paper explores an artistic residency where the focus shifted from traditional practices of ink on canvas to performance art using the human body as a medium of expression. This residency emphasized uncertainty, experimentation, and emotional expression as the core of the process. Through collaboration between a calligrapher and a visual artist, the performance engaged themes of seduction, silence, and the transition between reality and abstraction. In alignment with experimental art practices, the process itself became the artwork, embracing moments of failure and disruption as key components of creative exploration. This research integrates theories from neuroscience, psychology, and artistic failure, drawing on the insights of thinkers like John Cage, Samuel Beckett, and Cornelius Cardew to further contextualize the residency’s impact. Introduction: The Heart of the Experiment John Cage once said, “I am trying to be unfamiliar with what I’m doing,” encapsulating the essence of experimental art practices where uncertainty is the driving force. In artistic research, experimentation is often at the heart of the process, and the outcome remains unknown. This lack of a predetermined result transforms both the journey and the final product into a continuous exploration, where failure is not only inevitable but desirable. In this residency, we embraced the unknown, shifting the artistic dialogue from ink on canvas to ink on the human body, creating a living, breathing artwork where emotions were the palette and failure became a method of discovery. Many artistic research projects require clear outcomes, often restricting experimentation. Yet, experimental art seeks to remove these boundaries, allowing failure to become an integral part of both the process and the work itself. This paper explores how this residency’s focus on performance, movement, and emotional interaction met these ideals, revealing how experimentation—through silence, seduction, and the transition from refusal to acceptance—became the heart of the artistic expression. Methodology: Embracing Uncertainty and Failure The artistic residency functioned as an experimental laboratory where failure was not feared but embraced. Drawing on Cage’s philosophy of unfamiliarity and Beckett’s notion of “failing better,” the process allowed the artists to abandon the need for perfection and instead explore the limits of emotional expression, communication, and embodiment. The performance was set in a dark room, with a single spotlight illuminating the artists—a calligrapher and a visual artist. The calligrapher’s body, inscribed with ink, represented a departure from traditional practices, while the visual artist used his camera to document the unfolding emotions and moments. Silence and movement were central to the performance, creating a tension that invited the audience to engage with the vulnerability of the process. This mirrored Tom Johnson’s *Failing* (1975), a piece that requires performers to confront inevitable failure, resonating with the uncertainty of the residency’s artistic outcome. Experimental art theorists, such as Cornelius Cardew, posit that failure is intrinsic to artistic exploration because it reveals the gap between human goals and nature’s indifference to success or failure. In this residency, the focus on human emotions, embodied through movement and silence, underscored the natural disruptions in communication, problem-solving, and artistic interaction. Each failure—a misstep in movement, a hesitation in gesture—became an opportunity to delve deeper into emotional layers, ultimately enhancing the collaborative experience. The Neuroscience of Artistic Failure and Emotional Expression Experimental art is inherently tied to the exploration of emotion, failure, and cognitive engagement. Neuroscientific research highlights how emotional engagement in art can trigger neural pathways associated with empathy, problem-solving, and emotional regulation. According to Damasio’s (1999) theory of embodied emotion, our bodies are active participants in emotional processing, and failure in art allows for deeper emotional introspection. The calligraphy inscribed on the skin in this performance transcended words, representing not only artistic expression but emotional communication. The transitions between silence and song, refusal and acceptance, echo research on how art can stimulate emotional engagement in both the artist and the audience. Mirror neuron studies by Rizzolatti and Craighero (2004) suggest that observing others’ actions and emotions can activate the same neural circuits in the observer, allowing the audience to “mirror” the emotional journey of the artists. As the performers navigated their own emotional responses to failure, the audience was drawn into a parallel experience, deepening the emotional resonance of the performance. Failure as Method: From Artistic Process to Product In this residency, failure was not a negative outcome but an integral part of the creative process. The artists’ uncertainty about the outcome mirrored the audience’s experience, where emotional and cognitive engagement with the work continuously evolved. This aligns with the notion of failure as a method in artistic research. Cardew’s reflection on Buster Keaton’s comedic failure—where success is not the goal but the continual striving for success—is a fitting metaphor for the residency’s performance. The collaboration between the two artists was based on trust, yet their movements, gestures, and interactions often led to unexpected outcomes. These moments of “failure” created space for new interpretations and understandings of the artwork. Failure in experimental art, as argued by de Duve (1996), can create productive disturbances, altering our perception of the artwork and allowing us to reconsider its boundaries. In this residency, each failure—whether in movement, coordination, or communication—became an opening for growth, creating a dialogue between the artists and the audience that highlighted the unpredictability of the creative process. Mindfulness and the Role of Emotional Intelligence in the Residency A key element of the residency was the mindfulness required to navigate emotional states and mental wellbeing. Artistic collaboration demands a high level of emotional intelligence, as noted by Goleman (1995), who emphasized the role of empathy, self-awareness, and emotional regulation in interpersonal relationships. The performance, in which two artists had to communicate silently and through movement, was an exercise in mindfulness—each artist had to be acutely aware of the other’s mental and emotional state. This process reflects Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) concept of “flow,” a psychological state in which individuals are fully immersed in a task that challenges both their emotional and cognitive capacities. The artists’ ability to adapt to failure, manage stress, and maintain trust throughout the performance highlighted the importance of emotional regulation and problem-solving in creative collaboration. Conclusion: Experimentation as a Living Art Form This residency exemplifies how experimental art transforms failure from a flaw into a tool for discovery. Through the collaboration between a calligrapher and a visual artist, the performance embodied the core principles of experimental art, where the outcome was unknown, and the process itself became the artwork. The interaction between movement, silence, and emotional expression invited the audience into an experience where failure and success were no longer opposites but part of the same continuum. In line with the ideas presented by Cage, Beckett, and Cardew, this artistic residency demonstrated that failure is an essential part of artistic experimentation. It is through failure that the artists and audience alike are able to push beyond the familiar, creating new pathways for emotional communication, artistic expression, and cognitive engagement. The residency thus becomes a living experiment in both art and human connection, with failure acting as the pulse of its creative heartbeat.

In this exposition, Falk Hübner and Heleen de Hoon share the process and reflections of their collaborative research project "Running Tilburg". In this project, Falk aimed to connect to an urban surrounding by means of long distance running. In September 2021, Falk Hübner started his work as professor of Artistic Connective Practices at Fontys Academy of the Arts in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Together with dramaturge Heleen de Hoon, he decided to get to know and connect to the city and the new surroundings by running it, and explore running as a connective practice - literally through spending time with feet on the ground. Heleen and Falk asked a group of colleagues, all living in the city, to share places to run by, and related stories to these places. Guided by these stories Falk and Heleen created a map and a script for a 53K run, documented by video, photos and field notes. Rather than presenting conclusive findings and final reflections, the purpose of this exposition is to share the documentation of the process and the experience. Thus, we understand the project and this exposition quite literally as a first step to lead to potentially next and new steps.

This project investigates Western musical instruments as being critical and even dangerous sites, which should be approached with the greatest of caution. Approached as liminal interfaces between the living and the dead, suspended between past(s) and present(s), turning these instruments into both paranormal and parasitic sites, which should be treated as such. Instruments as pathological contaminated bodies of parasitic discourse ready to jump at you and embed themselves in you, sedimenting within you and, subsequently, playing you. Instruments as haunted sites saturated with ghostlike matters of toxoplasmatic ectoplasm, fostering ghosts with the capacity to possess and inflict pain on to other bodies, active in the past as well in the present. With an interest in the notion of instrumentalization and what instruments can mean, control, and do to bodies, instruments are approached from a safe(r) distance through different (group) interventions, raising questions on how best to emolliate and soften the instrumental body? How to soften the big silent? How to soften the sedimented?

In my artistic research project, I embarked on an exploration of the continuum between the roles of a music producer as both facilitator and initiator. Through in-depth engagement with real-world scenarios in professional music production, I examined the dynamics and nuances of how these roles negotiate, intersect, and shape the final artistic outcomes. This investigation not only unveils the intricate processes that underpin music creation but also highlights the implications these negotiations have on the resulting works of art. The findings shed light on the subtle artistry embedded in production decisions and offer a fresh perspective on the evolving landscape of music production.