creative (mis)understandings - Methodologies of Inspiration by Johannes Kretz

This project aims to develop transcultural approaches of inspiration (which we regard as mutually appreciated intentional and reciprocal artistic influence based on solidarity) by combining approaches from contemporary music composition and improvisation with ethnomusicological and sociological research. We encourage creative (mis)understandings emerging from the interaction between research and artistic practice, and between European art music, folk and non-western styles, in particular from indigenous minorities in Taiwan. Both comprehension and incomprehension yield serendipity and inspiration for new research questions, innovative artistic creation, and applied follow-ups among non-western communities. The project departs from two premises: first, that contemporary western art music as a practice often tends to resort to certain degrees of elitism; and second, that non-western musical knowledge is often either ignored or merely exploited when it comes to compositional inspiration. We do not regard inspiration as unidirectional, an “input” like recording or downloading material for artistic use. Instead, we foster artistic interaction by promoting dialogical and distributed knowledge production in musical encounters. Developing interdisciplinary and transcultural methodologies of musical creation will contribute on the one hand towards opening up the—rightly or wrongly supposed—“ivory tower of contemporary composition”, and on the other hand will contribute towards the recognition of the artistic value of non-western musical practices. By highlighting the reciprocal nature of inspiration, creative (mis)understandings will result in socially relevant and innovative methodologies for creating and disseminating music with meaning. The methods applied in the proposed project will start out from ethnographic evidence that people living in non-western or traditional societies often use methods of knowledge production within the sonic domain which are commonly unaddressed or even unknown among western contemporary music composers (aside from exotist or orientalistic appropriations of “the other”). The project is designed in four stages: field research and interaction with indigenous communities in Taiwan with a focus on the Tao people on Lanyu Island, collaborative workshops in Vienna, an artistic research and training phase with invited indigenous Taiwanese coaches in Vienna, and feeding back to the field in Taiwan. During all these stages, exchange and coordination between composers, music makers, scholars and source community experts will be essential in order to reflect not only on the creative process, but also to analyse and support strong interaction between creation and society. Re-interaction with source communities as well as audience participation in the widest sense will help to increase the social relevance of the artistic results. The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW) will host the project. The contributors are Johannes Kretz (project leader) and Wei-Ya Lin (project co-leader, senior investigator) with their team of seven composers, ten artistic research partners from Taiwan and six artistic and academic consultants with extensive experience in the relevant fields.

"To think about what you trying to tell me,
And think about how should I react to it,
Then think about how you will react to my reaction,
I also think about what they would react to our conversations, secretly.
But I never thought my painting would talk to others.
Like I never thought somebody can notice the voice in my head.

If you heard it, it might be a sound , like the sound of your own steps.
If you listen to it, it might be a memory, a story or song.
A thing that you can tell."

(Si Pehbowen)

思索著你想告訴我甚麼，
並思索著我應該如何做反應，
再思索著你會對我的反應做出甚麼樣的反應，
我也偷偷思索著他們會如何對我們的對話做出反應。
然而我不曾想過我的畫作會與他人溝通，
正如我不曾想過有人可以留意到我腦中的聲音。

若你聽見了，可能它就是一個聲音，如同你的腳步聲。
若你仔細聆聽，可能它會是一個回憶、一篇故事、一首歌。
是一件可以讓你明白的事情。
(Si Pehbowen)

I. Si Pehbowen´s original painting

Si Pehbowen 的原作畫

II/a. Audio-response by Samu Gryllus

Samu Gryllus以錄音作為回應

II/b. Auto-analysis of IIa by Samu Gryllus.

Samu Gryllus針對IIa的分析.

III/a.Video-response by Si Pehbowen

Si Pehbowen以影片作為回應

III/b. Sheet of notes for III/a by Si Pehbowen

Si Pehbowen提供III/a的筆記稿

Dialogue Research

is a format of artistic research between two participants of the Creative (Mis)Understandings. It was initiated by Samu Gryllus during the second week of the field research period of the project on Lanyu, upon first exploring a painting of Si Pehbowen.

The rules of the resarch are following:

A work of art (music, video, recording of dancing, images of paintings or drawings, anything that can be shared via internet) is created in response to the work of the other artist.
Both artists are creating a written analysis about their own artwork, but keep it in secret until they get the a response from the other artist to their work.
These actions are repeated until both artists feel that they mutually understand each other´s approach to their works.

對話研究

對話研究是兩位Creative (Mis)Understandings研究計畫成員之間正在進行的一個藝術研究模式，由Samu Gryllus在蘭嶼田野調查的第二個禮拜所提出，當時他正在第一次探討Si Pehbowen的繪畫作品。

以下是關於這個研究模式的規則:

以回應一件藝術作品為出發點去創作另一件藝術作品（形式可以是音樂、影片、舞蹈的錄影紀錄、畫作、或任何可以在網路上播放展現的格式）。
兩位藝術家要寫出對於自己作品的分析，但是內容要保密直到對方已對自己的作品做出回應。
這樣的應答必須要重複來回直到兩位藝術家都感覺到已經可以深刻明白彼此創作的方式。

"A step by step understanding my misunderstandings, and my own approach through your approach to my way of understanding.

Watching with our eyes and listen with our ears in order to see and hear the same.

I beleive that our actions will end up having a mutual understanding of our perspectives, meanwhile the way that led to this balance will be clearly shown in our words as well as in our works."

(Samu Gryllus)

「一步一步的去了解我的誤解，並透過你的方式再回到我自己的方式達到我的了解；我們用自己的眼睛去看、用自己的耳朵去聽，是為了要看到、聽到同樣的事物；我相信我們的行為最終都會達到一個能相互理解的境界，同時，達到這個平衡的過程都將會清楚的顯示在我們的文字以及作品上面。」

(Samu Gryllus)

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