The Research Catalogue (RC) is a non-commercial, collaboration and publishing platform for artistic research provided by the
Society for Artistic Research. The RC is free to use for artists and
researchers. It
serves also as a backbone for teaching purposes, student assessment, peer review workflows and research funding administration. It strives to be
an open space for experimentation and exchange.
recent activities
Bird → ∞
(2025)
Kirill Arkadiev
I work at the boundary where a finite biological object asymptotically approaches zero and, through this disappearance, gives birth to an infinite aesthetic event — a singularity.
The series “Singularity of Beauty” is an ongoing investigation into the moment when decay, entropy, and controlled human intervention collide to rupture the visible world and generate a new, non-representational order.
Method: Asymptotic Ritual
A chosen organic system (bird, bouquet, insect colony, fungal network) is placed on a prepared surface and deliberately abandoned to natural forces — heat, humidity, insects, gravity, time.
During a fixed ritual period (7 days in the current cycle), the object decays following an exponential law analogous to f(t) = a·e⁻ᵏᵗ. The artist is absent; only documentation occurs.
At t → ∞ (practically: when the biological object approaches zero), the artist re-enters as a second asymptotic operator. Selective pigment application, removal of material, and layering transform the residue into a visual limit — a singularity point where the initial object has vanished, yet infinite meaning emerges.
The final state is neither representation nor abstraction; it is the frozen event of the limit itself.
Core Principles
Decay is not a theme; it is the first author.
Time is treated as a physical material with measurable half-life.
Human intervention functions as a controlled perturbation that forces the system past its natural equilibrium into aesthetic infinity.
The resulting image is a palimpsest of two incompatible temporalities: biological time (unstoppable) and artistic time (intermittent, intentional).
The “demon” is not a depicted figure but the mathematical event of the singularity: the instant when order, passing through zero, becomes infinite and alien.
Iceland University of the Arts - Welcome to RC
(2025)
Sigmundur Pall Freysteinsson
This exposition gathers all the essential information needed to get started with the Research Catalogue (RC) platform at the Iceland University of the Arts (IUA). It offers a clear overview of how to create a profile, start an exposition, and navigate the basic functions of the platform. The goal is to provide staff with a central reference point for working with RC in the context of artistic research and institutional use.
recent publications
The zoo: A mise-en-scène
(2025)
Jocelyn Michel Janon
The zoo is not a neutral site of animal display but a meticulously curated mise en scène where scenography dictates perception.
This exposition reframes the zoological garden as a dispositif of control, foregrounding fabricated rock formations, artificial lighting, and concealed barriers as theatrical devices.
Through square format photographic series that exclude animals, the work exposes the zoo’s fragmented geographies as staged spectacles designed for human imagination rather than ecological integrity.
The project interrogates authorship, agency, and representation, inviting viewers to reconsider the zoo as a cultural theatre of estrangement and illusion.
Touring Electroacoustic Musicians
(2025)
Mathieu Lacroix
Touring occupies a unique and often underexplored role in the careers of electroacoustic musicians, where the intersection of artistic, technical, and logistical challenges becomes especially pronounced. This article examines the practical realities of touring within the context of multichannel electroacoustic music, using Electric Audio Unit’s (EAU) performance in Tallinn as a case study. The article highlights the challenges of preparing for and executing a multichannel concert in an unfamiliar venue, including issues of spatialization, equipment compatibility, and time constraints. Additionally, it reflects on the broader demands placed on electroacoustic musicians, who must often juggle multiple roles to ensure the success of their performances.
Visual Overeating: Pop Culture and the Chronically Online
(2025)
Denisa Ponomarevová, Daniela Ponomarevová
This exposition examines the intersection of drawing, installation, and handmade objects informed by popular culture, spectacle, and visual symbolism. Central to the practice is the duality between physical materiality and virtual environments, a framework through which fictional realities are constructed and analyzed—often reflecting states of exhaustion, overload, and alienation characteristic of hyperactive contemporary culture. The use of low-budget materials and do-it-yourself methods introduces a deliberate tension between meticulous craftsmanship and intentional “amateurism,” while simultaneously subverting the capitalist logics of mass culture through the reuse and recontextualization of its visual language. Connecting introspective and social dimensions, the exposition offers not only an aesthetic experience but also a critical lens on everyday consumer routines, media-shaped reality, and processes of personal self-reflection.