Research Catalogue

In A place Like This sets out to investigate and expand the issues and critical discourses within Sandborg and Higgins' current collaborative research practice. The central focus for the research is concerned with how art, in this instance photographic and painted image making and text, can be used as an agent or catalyst of understanding and critical reflection. The research methodology is constructed through photography, painting, drawing and text. This utilises the form of an artist publication as a point of critically engaged dissemination: a place for the tension between conflicting ideas and investigation to be explored through discussion. The research question is focused on how the production of the image and the act of making images can communicate or describe moments of erasure or remembering in terms of historical and personal narratives with direct reference to moments of violence and place. This is seen not in terms of a nostalgic remembrance of the past; instead as one that is rife with complicated layers and dynamics where recognition is denied the ability to locate a physical representation. Embedded in this is an exploration of particular questions concerning the ethics of representation: the depiction of ourselves and other? In this sense it brings into question an examination of the act of remembering as a thing in itself, through the production of the image and text, contexts of knowledge and cultural discourses explored through the form of an artists publication.

Desenho e Perfomatividade (Conjunto de Workshops realizados)

[Hyper]drawing is a research project. Hyperdrawing is an opportunity for [fine art] drawing practice. This Research Catalogue exposition documents ongoing research into Hyperdrawing: Hyperdrawing is an ambiguous practice. Hyperdrawing adopts a position, a perspective or viewpoint, that a lack of definition should be embraced and that ambiguity presents an opportunity. Hyperdrawing has the capacity to enable and sustain drawing practices.

When gazing at the night sky together with someone, it can be challenging to guide the other person’s attention to a specific star or cluster. To completely follow the alignment of the eyes and the tip of the index finger to the object in mind would require us to climb into the other, to see the world through their eyes. How do we know if we have the same star in mind as the person next to us? Are we talking at cross-purposes? At Cross Purposes, reflections on constellations, comprises three texts by different authors on language, narrative, sign and signification, as well as poetry and anxiety in art.

PLAN TO UNPLAN is the work around the book BOOK OF CHORDS that serves as both artistic result and reflective component on several pieces I wrote between 2019 and 2024. The work touches thoughts about precariousness in music making and musical writing and the differences in chamber musical writing and orchestral writing. In the realms of these pillars there is a strong focus on expressions found in chords. Chords, sung mostly by amateur choirs and found on the internet.

My PhD project, ‘Things That Might Be True’, is based on Carl DiSalvo’s concept of adversarial design (DiSalvo 2012), which differentiates between ‘design for politics’ and ‘political design’. DiSalvo defines the former as design that simplifies and streamlines people’s electoral actions and interactions with municipalities, healthcare, and the government. ‘Political design’, on the other hand, sparks debate, problematises, and suggests new ways of exploring specific themes and concepts. DiSalvo’s concept is built on Chantal Mouffe’s distinction between ‘politics’ and ‘the political’. I set out to question DiSalvo’s dichotomy. Through practical experiments, I expanded and processed adversarial design. My goal was to challenge the prevailing ideas in society on how citizens (should) connect with their inner political lives. My project examined how visual communication design might help devise new methods and tools for the public to approach politics, and, by extension, expand the conversation about democracy on a personal as well as societal level. Through public engagement, dialogue, discussion, and introspection, I explored ways for citizens to listen to and connect with their inner political voice. I conducted four participatory sub-projects: the lecture series ‘Things That Might Be True’; the Voices publication; the Inner Political Landscapes collage-making workshop; and the Political Confession workshop. The findings of these four experiments led to the development and materialisation of a fictional new department: the Stemme Department. The department's activities display the artistic outcome of my PhD project and illustrate how people can come together to reflect and engage in dialogue with their political selves. In early March 2024, the Stemme Department’s activities were presented at Bergen Storsenter and Bergen Public Library during a four-day event, which included an exhibition, a workshop, and lectures. My project expanded the dichotomy of adversarial design by suggesting the concept adopt an additional category: ‘political, political design’. Through an ambiguous and empathetic design practice, this additional category would mirror and borrow characteristics from both design for politics and ­political design.