A Porous Consciousness in and as Artistic Practice: Re-engaging with classical Indian philosophy and aesthetics as a living tradition
(2020)
author(s): Srisrividhiya Kalyanasundaram
published in: Journal for Artistic Research
Artistic creativity is critically and painstakingly intertwined with ecological creativity in Indian aesthetics. The underlying principles of form, grammar and structure are carefully considered applications and expansions of ecological principles. But what lies at the heart of a consciousness that can enact, embody and expand this creativity principle? I argue that the consciousness principle is 'porosity', an ability to transcend self to enter a state of being where life can move through as a seamless exchange of energy in consecrated time and space. This exposition draws insights from practice based research and unravels the practitioner’s point of view into subjective, qualitative research using text, image and movement. The philosophical and aesthetic underpinnings are drawn from Hindu Indian aesthetics, philosophy and ancient notions of ecology.
In Between
(2016)
author(s): Priska Falin
connected to: Aalto University
published in: Research Catalogue
The goal of this artistic exploration was not to find the one ‘true’ identity but to understand and cope with the transformation between different roles that challenge the perception of oneself. Who / what exists in between the roles?
Instead of focusing on human subjects, I have used a city as an example for the exploration. The city of Rovaniemi works as the basis of the exploration where different ‘roles’ can be understood. In order to understand the identities of the city, I first mapped the different roles with informal questionnaires and focused on places that were left in between.
The exploration aims to understand what emerges through a compilation of views that focus on something ‘in between’. The aim was to collect video clips that show the gaps and the places in between the well-known and recognizable locations. The interest of this exploration was to understand what can be revealed through focusing on the unnoticed or disregarded.
Domesticated Noise: The Musical Reformation of Identity in Urban Vietnam
(2016)
author(s): Lonan O Briain
published in: Journal of Sonic Studies
In his composition “New Moon” (Trăng non), saxophonist Trần Mạnh Tuấn appropriates sounds from the musical cultures of Vietnam’s ethnic minorities to create a fusion of regional Vietnamese and international jazz music. The musical cultures are reduced to the raw sounds of instrument timbres which are then reformulated as part of a new popular style by the composer. His detachment of these sounds from the minority cultures and propagation of them as sonic referents to an internal Other nurtures an essentialized understanding of the minorities as different and distant from the urban majority. This research deploys Georgina Born’s proposal of four planes of distinct socialities that are mediated by music and sound (2011) to examine how the musical domestication of these ethnic-themed sounds contributes to the conceptualization of new economically-endowed social classes in urban Vietnam.
The Palestinian music-making experience in the West Bank, 1920s to 1959: Nationalism, colonialism, and identity
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Issa Boulos
connected to: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
Research by Issa Boulos.
Before 1936, musical practices in Palestine relied heavily on colloquial poetry, especially in rural communities, which constituted most of the population. During the first half of the twentieth century, Palestinian music evolved as a reflection of the social, cultural, and political evolution of Palestinians. Palestinian music-making evolved exponentially resulting in the expansion of various folk tunes into shaʿbī songs, the creation of the Palestinian qaṣīda song genre, new compositions of instrumental music for traditional and Western music formations, the establishment of choirs and children music programing, and active engagement in composing in the styles of the dominant Egyptian genres of the time as well as muwashshaḥāt.
In 1948, the vast majority of Palestinians were displaced, and musicians found themselves at the frontier of implementing new political and cultural visions in the countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. Therefore, the continuation of the musical narrative in the West Bank did not seem attainable. By the early 1950s, Palestinian musicians and intellectuals developed a vocabulary that reflected the topography, scenery, culture, dialects, and history of al-Mashriq, one that is independent of Egypt’s. Their input, intuition, experience, and convictions of various Palestinian musicians helped to make the music scene in Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan what they are today.
Romanticizing Brahms: Early Recordings and the [De]Construction of Brahmsian Identity
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Anna Scott
connected to: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
Despite most pianists' claims of historical deference and creative agency, their performances of Brahms's piano works are nothing like the early-recorded performances of the composer and his students: gaps that are mediated by understandings of Brahms's Classical canonic identity, the performance norms that protect that identity, and those norms' underlying aesthetic ideology of control. This predication of Brahmsian identity on restraint leaves the composer and his students in a precarious situation, as their recordings evidence an approach that is governed by the inhibitions typically associated with Romanticism. This volume, by Anna Scott, seeks to problematize understandings of Brahms's identity: by investigating the origins and vestiges of the aesthetic ideology of control; by analysing and copying the recordings of pianists in the composer's inner circle; and by applying these pianists' styles in ways that are just as disruptive to modern notions of Brahmsian identity as their early-recorded models. In so doing, a thoroughly Romantic performance style emerges that catalyses a fundamental shift in understanding as related to Brahms's identity; thereby opening up a new palette of expressive and technical resources, and both elucidating and narrowing persistent gaps between modern and early-recorded Brahms style, as well as between what performers believe, know, and ultimately do.
The (Re)construction of Self on the Kitchen Island
(last edited: 2021)
author(s): YiLing Hung
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
Food practices, a general term for the actions around food, including cooking and eating. They are part of our everyday activities which fundamentally support us, so that we can carry out other daily activities. However, food practices are more than just about resources of nutrients, especially in the current world in which efficiency and conveniency dominate our lifestyle. The nature of food practices has a very strong connection with bodily experience and personal memory, which are situated not only in the action of eating but also through the process of food making. After one individual relocates to a new country, in order to respond to the new environment, he/she has to take actions to change, including but not only of the food practices. These changes will lead him/her go on a searching journey – searching who am I? Where I belong to? Where is home? In this article, through food practices in the kitchen, I will touch upon the topics around migration, identity and belonging within the thematic framework of everyday utopias.