9 Lives of Piano
(2021)
author(s): Eka Chabashvili, Nino Jvania, Tamar Zhvania
published in: Research Catalogue
Since 2018, we have been conducting an artistic research that aims to research sound production techniques of piano in the 21st century. We have been inspired by the words of Karlheinz Stockhausen who declared, in 1992, that “piano music has come to an end and something quite different is coming… With the claviers made up to this time, there is nothing new to discover anymore.” The research resulted into a piece composed by a composer Eka Chabashvili in interaction with pianists Nino Jvania and Tamar Zhvania for 2 pianos, modified piano, video-installations and the virtual piano orchestra. The main aim of the piece “Has Piano Music Come to an End?” is to contradict Stockhausen and demonstrate various new possibilities of engaging acoustic piano in contemporary music.
In this exposition we offer two different presentations of the same artistic research introducing some of the research results employing, on one hand, academic and, on the other hand, creative writing styles.
UPDATED Piano four-hands, "once again"
(2021)
author(s): Alessandra Di Gennaro
published in: Research Catalogue
This work arises from the long and passionate research the author has been conducting through the years as member of a professional piano duo (the Dirac PIano Duo). It aims firstly to understand why the piano four-hands repertoire has been for long time stigmatized as an “inferior
genre” despite its unquestionable value, and it also seeks to shed light on the contemporary repertoire for this medium, which is at present almost unknown, unperformed and undiscussed although it embodies masterpieces of undoubted artistic quality.
To do so, this thesis will first focus on the technical challenges, the distinctive features, the possibilities of expression as well as the limitations that characterize the piano four-hand repertoire, explaining why they are of a completely unique order and why they make the medium itself so distinctive and so controversial at the same time.
It will then explore the medium also from a more historical point of view, setting it into the social- cultural-musical context of the various periods and deeply investigating the process that has brought it from being considered one of the most fascinating socio-cultural phenomena of the nineteenth century to its almost complete extinction at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the ultimate scope of analyzing what is left of it nowadays and which is its role in the current musical scenario.
The results of the investigation point out that once the historical and sociological factors that have allowed for the extreme popularity of the medium fell short, the latter could finally assume a completely new value and be a site of compositional and performance innovation that absolutely deserves to be discovered, performed and analyzed.
The output of this dissertation have also inspired the young Chinese composer Ching-Fang Teng to write “Entanglement”, a proper homage to the medium and to its endless compositional potential.
Singular
(2021)
author(s): Bruno Caldas Vianna
published in: Research Catalogue
This doctoral project research investigates the relations between visual arts and artificial intelligence. A great weight is given to the concept of autonomy, as some kind of Holy Graal of cybernetics: the creation of entities that can fend off for themselves, like robots, autonomous cars or artificial software agents. As such, the project has the current working title of “Poetics of Autonomy”. But this concept is also dear to the arts. Much has been written and discussed on the potential for autonomy within the art object, and how much modernism and conceptual art has changed it.
My concern at this exhibition was to understand the tools AI offers for visual arts and issues they might convey. I also address the concept of autonomy from a perspective of the post-human, or the cyborg. What art can be done from an apocalyptic perspective? When no humans are left on the planet, could there be something left that continues to create art? And what kind of serendipity can be created - or at least simulated - with the current state of AI?
The exhibition took place at the Hietsun Pavilion in Helsinki, from the 1st to the 30th July, 2021
Musings on Pure Play
(2021)
author(s): Marko Mikael Marila
published in: Research Catalogue
The experiment reported here seeks inspiration from the interplay in chess between the limitations set by the rules and the playfulness afforded by the instance of playing the game. I replaced the chess pieces with everyday objects that are somehow personally or historically important and familiar to the player. With this experimental performance, I did not wish to point at anything outside the confines of the game, but rather explore whether a game of chess with random everyday objects as pieces is possible in the first place and if any significant discoveries could be made when playing in such a fashion. I treated the rules of the game simply as a starting place or a template, and while successful playing will require basic understanding of the rules of the game, I anticipated that paying attention to and spending time with the objects themselves would be more important.
2 player Instrument
(2021)
author(s): NTNU
published in: Research Catalogue
A simple two player instrument that does not require a lot of skill to play
To get full effect of the instrument it should be played by more than two players at the same time.
REPUBLIC OF THE OTHER
(2021)
author(s): Xenia Mura Fink, Jinny Yu
published in: Research Catalogue
REPUBLIC OF THE OTHER is an art collective consisting of and founded by Jinny Yu and Xenia Fink.
A contradiction in itself, REPUBLIC OF THE OTHER reflects our questioning of geographic and national identities defined by borders and boundaries and is the basis of our research on the attraction to form an entity.
Our collaboration started with the urgency to express our resistance against the generalized right-wing tendency, with nation-states and borders strengthening with great force worldwide and with the conviction that we have something to contribute to the discussion.
Manifestos as a subject matter are our way to describe a utopia where we all accept each other as an “other”.
Our practice is executed through exchanging and developing ideas from our respective locations. Remotely sharing thoughts naturally lend to working with text as a medium; when we occasionally do convene, concepts may also take the shape of installations and video work.