Can I Paint It? Exploring the 'Art-tool' Method in Anthropology
(2019)
author(s): Paola Tine
published in: Research Catalogue
This essay is divided in two sections: a theoretical reflection on the premises and advantages of painting in anthropological research, and a practical experiment. The first section offers a proposal for the use of painting within anthropological outcomes as an important tool for representing the feelings of the researcher and of the people observed, as well as mediating between their perspectives. Additionally, the proposed visual essay, entitled ‘City and Nature’ is a visual exploration of human life within the modern globalised world, focusing on nature and consumerism through dark surreal images. The exploration of the possibilities of expression offered by artistic practice can be a great way to explore the sphere of perception and interpretation, that deeper world of meanings and understandings, that is the real heart of anthropology.
MONUMENTS / Les frontières qui établissent les normes qui nous fondent n’existent pas ici
(2019)
author(s): Audrey Beaulé
published in: Research Catalogue
Tout a débuté par un désir et ce qui m’apparaissait comme une nécessité: tenter une relecture queer et féministe de l’abstraction.
Sonoqualia 2.0
(2019)
author(s): Concha García
published in: Research Catalogue
Sonoqualia is a project aimed at people with visual impairment, whose main objective is the creation of sound artistic experiences linked to pictorial works housed in museums of the city of Madrid. The name (Sono-qualia) refers to the subjective qualities of the sounds we feel and perceive each one of us, so its intention is far from objective criteria translators of visual material in sound material. Pictorial works are the frames of reference from which the spaces and sound experiences are created. The audio-descriptions offered by museums, understood as descriptive narratives of the elements put in relation in the pictures, are the starting point of the project, conceived as a 5-week workshop in which the participants work in groups, assisted by technicians who facilitate them the access to sound-composition software. Sonoqualia focuses on the construction, enrichment and communication of the mental images of the participants, generated from these descriptive narratives, understood as internal representations shaped from our multimodal experiences, in which all the senses intervene. Various elements are used for this purpose, such as symbolic values and emotional meanings of the sounds daily used in our interpersonal and environmental relationships; the sound imagination, which has the capacity of development, sophistication and complexity; previous sound experiences or "sonorous culture", variable in each participant, but enriched when shared and put together; sound material chosen simply by "as it sounds", i.e. by aesthetic criteria... The result is the creation of sound pieces with a duration around 2 minutes. This project has been the beneficiary of an aid for the artistic creation of the city Council of Madrid 2017 and so far, two editions of it have been made.
Digital Unrealities
(2019)
author(s): Sara Pinheiro
published in: Research Catalogue
This exposition explores the making of the multi-channel sound installation “digital unrealities, study I”. It goes through the process of constructing an unreal environment by sonic means, particularly through the use of contemporary digital tools. Because sound is heavily dependent on its propagation through a physical space, the idea of unreal considers reverberation and spatialization as the main subjects of interest. Consequently, reverb became the main tool to explore the subject in practice. Due to the multidisciplinarity of the project, the subject had different approaches: from exploring the understandability of a sound according to its spatialization; to creating the sound material using reverb artifacts; as approaching spatialization through ambisonic strategies; and to processing sound sources through convolution reverb and cross-synthesis towards abstraction. In the end, the research and practice evolved analogously; concluding that the idea of sound digitality is only part of a process, not of an experience, because sound occurs only when propagated. Nevertheless, the composition is a proposal of “reduced listening” in a digital media context.
The Emergence of Choreographic Material in 'Silent Pact' (2018)
(2019)
author(s): Paula Guzzanti
published in: Research Catalogue
About
This exposition presents the documentation of the choreographic material of my performance piece 'Silent Pact' (2018).
This work is a collaboration with voice artist Una Lee.
This Exposition Includes:
1) Visual Essay (10 mins)
2) Photographic Documentation (2 images)
3) My mother's original letter (English version)
4) My mother's poem entitled 'Silent Pact' (English version)
5) Soundtrack version of the screen dance.
6) Essay 'On the Emergence of Choreographic Material in Silent Pact' (forthcoming publication in the Journal Corpografias)
7) GIFs of Choreographic Material Becoming (5 gifs)
8) Screendance 'Silent Pact' (2018)
Background to the work
The performance evolves from re-visiting an intimate affective trace –a letter from my mother– through dance improvisation and performance-making practice. In June 2015, I received a letter from my mother together with a poem entitled Silent Pact (28/06/1981-28/09/1981). The letter tells the story of my mother having to keep me in secret, as she got pregnant three months before her church wedding. I discover that my real birthday is three months earlier than what I had been celebrating all my life. In 2018, I am commissioned to create a piece as part of the International Women’s Day celebrations in Belfast; the theme was women’s silent voices. After considering various stories of women’s that were close to me, I remember my mother’s letter. This is what choreographer-dancer Silvy Panet-Raymond pointed to me as a ‘radical practice’ . Although I don’t consider myself exploring radical ways of creating performance, it was interesting for me to note that in this work the movement vocabulary contrasts dramatically with the movement in a series of pieces that share the same research focus – the affects of dance improvisation. In Silent Pact, there is a clear moving away from stylish vocabulary, I achieve a strong presence in a performance charged with emotional nuances and textures.
I chose this work for discussing the emergence of choreographic material as I found that the resulting choreographic material emerged from a particular set of conditions that was a move towards defining my artistic signature.