Research Catalogue

This exposition contains documentation of the artistic result of Magnhild Øen Nordahls artistic research PhD project Unmaking Abstractions. The exposition also contains the artistic reflection for the same project. On the exposition's landing page the reader can access its different components by clicking different sides of the unfolded cube. The rotating cube in the upper right corner will bring the reader back to the landing page.

Conceived and co-organised by Emma Cocker, Alexander Damianisch, Cordula Daus and Lena Séraphin, this Society of Artistic Research Special Interest Group (SAR SIG) provides contexts for coming together via the exchange of language-based research. The intent is to support developments in the field of expanded language-based practices by inviting attention, time and space for enabling understanding of/and via these practices anew.

This research was conducted with a diverse group of dancers, varying in age, background, and dance experience, and was guided through somatic embodiment and artistic articulation. Through a somatic approach, the body was explored as both an archive of lived experience and an oracle for emergent knowledge, offering a strong gateway into authentic dance material. The creative process unfolded through four phases: somatic exploration and improvisation, composition, structuring, and refinement. Throughout, leadership shifted fluidly between an open, facilitative mode, amplifying the dancers’ voices, and a more directive mode, articulating the artistic vision. The methodology highlights how initial somatic explorations were gradually shaped into choreographic form, maintaining a dialogue between internal embodiment and external composition throughout the process. Key insights include that this process proved particularly effective within a diverse group context, demonstrating that, regardless of formal dance training, each individual, when guided somatically, can access embodied memory and, through compositional shaping, transform authentic movement into coherent choreographic structure. Both the research and the resulting performance, Equilibrium, do not seek to offer resolution, but rather to evoke recognition and the possibility of coexisting with tension.

In this exposition, I discuss encounters of culture that occurred in art-based action research (ABAR) with Sámi reindeer herder families in the Finnish regions of Sápmi (the Sámi homeland). Five Sámi reindeer herder families joined an ABAR -project to enhance and stabilise the Sámi reindeer herders' position in the majority society. The research project relates to the Department of Art Education's development of art-based action research, the theory of community-based art education and the concept of 'new genre Arctic art' at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland. It is a long-term research project that emphasises participatory and co-research methods. As a researcher, I am in an insider-outsider position, as I live in the same region and share my daily life with a reindeer herder. We started the action by exploring the daily life of the reindeer herders through the Photovoice method. We gathered their photographs in an exhibition called Boazoeallin, a Davvi Sámi (Northern Sámi) word for Reindeer Life. The exhibition inspired the families to continue their visually informative work, and we designed the photographs in a book, also called Boazoeallin. The art-based collaboration with reindeer herders and the Boazoeallin exhibition and book contribute to the 'new genre Arctic art' that embraces participatory contemporary art, emphasising crucial matters of the multicultural Arctic. The Sámi people's history and culture form a destined constitution and obligation for ethical research conducted in Sápmi. The reindeer herders are unfamiliar with contemporary art, which challenged and changed the art education activities. The exposition reflects the challenges for an ethical, participatory, and democratic research approach in ABAR. In the research action, I have sought to frame the terms for which community-based art education best can serve communities of Indigenous cultures, the multicultural northern community, the Arctic, and global interests.

The artistic research project "(un)Romantic / Improvising Interpretation" 2021-2024 was led by vocalist/composer Live Maria Roggen and pianist/composer Ingfrid Breie Nyhus at the Norwegian Academy of Music, funded by the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme. The explorations have concerned creative interpretation and aesthetical language, through improvising together as a duo: What can an interpretation be or become? Where does a story live? What is Romantic and what is unRomantic? Where does the ‘new’ begin and where does the ‘old’ go?

This research explores the intersection of art and technology through the innovative use of the oscilloscope in musical composition and performance. Originally a tool for scientific and industrial applications, the oscilloscope’s ability to transform electrical signals into dynamic visual patterns offers a unique opportunity for audio-visual expression. This study is motivated by a fascination with the device’s aesthetic and philosophical potential, as well as its capacity to bridge sound and image, creating a multisensory artistic experience. The central research questions guiding this investigation are: How can the oscilloscope be incorporated into compositional practice? Can it function as both a compositional tool and a live performance instrument? Is integration with acoustic instruments feasible, and how does it operate within an ensemble context? Through a combination of historical-theoretical research and practical experimentation, this study researches how the oscilloscope can indeed serve as a tool for composition, a performative instrument, and a collaborative element in mixed acoustic-electronic ensembles. The findings highlight the oscilloscope’s potential to redefine traditional musical practices, offering new dimensions of creativity and interaction, bringing unexplored possibilities along with strict limits and challenges. This research contributes to the growing field of multimedia art, providing insights for composers and performers interested in exploring the translation of sound to image, and technology.