The Research Catalogue (RC) is a non-commercial, collaboration and publishing platform for artistic research provided by the
Society for Artistic Research. The RC is free to use for artists and
researchers. It
serves also as a backbone for teaching purposes, student assessment, peer review workflows and research funding administration. It strives to be
an open space for experimentation and exchange.
recent activities
Sonic Geographies of Hope: How can Song become an Act of Restoration for a Damaged Planet?
(2025)
Angela Valenzuela (Loica)
I dedicate this work to Robin Wall Kimmerer’s call for acts of restoration for our damaged planet. In my project, I choose song composition and performance as a way to find pathways for personal and collective restoration. Through the methods of artistic research I write songs inspired by my experience of ecological grief, academic reading, interviews to song composers, and journaling. As a contribution from my work, I present a new compositional methodology, Sonic Geographies of Hope. This methodology calls for song composers to write songs grounded in personal and collective grief of our damaged planet. I suggest that these type of songs can become an act of restoration and create collective resonance for more hopeful ways of existing and experiencing the world.
This methodology is heavily influenced by the work of A. Hazelwood and her methodology Geographies of Hope in Praxis (2020). While I draw inspiration from this methodology, my work focuses mainly on emotional geographies. This work represents a starting point to explore song methodologies that can nurture immaterial geographies leading to concrete, structural ecological restoration. It is an exploration to find ways to restore yourself to continue to fight for the dignity of the places, more-than human life and people we love.
The Language of Performance Art – A Dialogue of Matter, Duration, and Agency
(2025)
Leena Kela
In this artistic research I approach performance art as a language formed through the interplay of materiality, duration, and multiple forms of agency. I adopt a linguistic lens, not to reduce performance art only to language, but to use it as an analytical tool to render its characteristics, regularities, and modes of operation visible. A work of performance art emerges within relations between the performer’s corporeality, materials, space, and time. It weaves together visual, conceptual, and embodied thinking, privileging ephemerality and immediacy over permanence. The audience is integral to the work, as performance is an ephemeral art in which performer and audience share the experience in the same moment. Documentation, especially photography and video, enables the reshaping of temporal and spatial relations, as the camera frames, selects, and reconstructs the situation. My inquiry focuses on relations among human, more-than-human, and nonhuman agents. I situate my practice within the field of new materialist and posthumanist contemporary art, where works take shape through multilayered collaborative processes across diverse agents. Performance studies serves as one of the conceptual frameworks.
Alphabet of Performance Art
(2025)
Leena Kela
In her video performance Alphabet of Performance Art Leena Kela performs with the materials and objects that are typical for performance art. The work is based on over 15 years of research within the art form. She has selected 26 different materials and objects that form the language of the performance art and will perform them from A to Z. If A is an apple, what do you think P could be? Paint, paper, piss?
recent publications
NEKSUS: Utvikling av estetiske intensjoner gjennom interaktiv liveprosessering i et moderne jazzensemble
(2025)
Magnus Berdal Holm
Sammendrag:
Denne oppgaven utforsker hvordan estetiske intensjoner kan utvikles og formidles gjennom interaktiv liveprosessering i et moderne jazzensemble. Prosjektet NEKSUS tar utgangspunkt i fem komposisjoner som gjennom en tredelt prosess utvikles fra tradisjonelle jazzkomposisjoner til mer eksperimentelle lydlandskap. Gjennom fasene dekonstruksjon, estetisk intensjon og bandsamspill, undersøkes hvordan elektronisk prosessering kan fungere som et kreativt bindeledd mellom musikerne, og hvordan dette påvirker samspill og improvisasjon. Ved å etablere spesifikke estetiske rammeverk for hver komposisjon, legges det til rette for nye interaksjonsformer i ensemblet. Oppgaven dokumenterer denne utviklingsprosessen i detalj og reflekterer over hvordan teknologiske verktøy kan integreres som en naturlig del av det improvisatoriske uttrykket. Forskningsprosjektet viser at liveprosessering kan fungere som en neksus – et knutepunkt for musikalsk samhandling – som åpner for nye estetiske muligheter i spenningsfeltet mellom komposisjon, improvisasjon og teknologi. Samtidig belyses utfordringer knyttet til teknologisk implementering i livesammenheng, og hvordan disse kan overkommes gjennom grundig forberedelse og estetisk bevisstgjøring.
Abstract:
This thesis explores how aesthetic intentions can be developed and expressed through interactive live processing in a contemporary jazz ensemble. The project NEKSUS examines five compositions that, through a three-phase process, evolve from traditional jazz compositions to more experimental soundscapes. Through the phases of deconstruction, aesthetic intention, and ensemble interaction, the research investigates how electronic processing can function as a creative connection between musicians, and how this affects interplay and improvisation. By establishing specific aesthetic frameworks for each composition, new forms of interaction within the ensemble are facilitated. The thesis documents this development process in detail and reflects on how technological tools can be integrated as a natural part of the improvisational expression. The research project demonstrates that live processing can function as a nexus – a point of connection for musical interaction – that opens up new aesthetic possibilities in the intersection between composition, improvisation, and technology. Simultaneously, it highlights challenges related to technological implementation in live settings, and how these can be overcome through thorough preparation and aesthetic awareness.
Relasjonsorkester
(2025)
Reidun Ottersen
NORSK:
I dette kunstneriske utviklingsarbeidet undersøker jeg hvordan norsk folkemusikk kan integreres i mitt etablerte musikalske sound. Gjennom lytting, refleksjon og skapende praksis har jeg latt tradisjonsmusikkens estetikk og uttrykk påvirke mitt eget formspråk. Arbeidet har resultert i albumet "Relasjonsorkester", der jeg utforsker møtepunktene mellom tradisjon og samtid i tre utvalgte låter: "Hei, hallo", "Tankerom" og "Langsiktig sparing". Prosessen har vist at respektfull lytting, tilegning av teoretisk kunnskap og bevisste kunstneriske valg er avgjørende for å forankre nye uttrykk i en levende tradisjon. Oppgaven reflekterer over hvordan tradisjonen kan bli en del av egen kunstnerisk identitet, uten å måtte bli en tradisjonsbærer i klassisk forstand.
ENGLISH:
This artistic research project explores how Norwegian folk music can be integrated into my established musical sound. Through listening, reflection, and creative practice, I have allowed the aesthetics and expression of folk tradition to influence my own musical language. The project resulted in the album "Relasjonsorkester", where I explore the intersections between tradition and contemporary music through three selected songs: “Hei, hallo”, “Tankerom”, and “Langsiktig sparing”. The process demonstrates that respectful listening, acquisition of theoretical knowledge, and conscious artistic choices are essential for grounding new expressions within a living tradition. The thesis reflects on how tradition can become a part of one’s artistic identity without necessarily becoming a traditional bearer in the conventional sense.
Modes of limited transposition som utgangspunkt for tonal komposisjon
(2025)
Simon Skarsvåg Furnes
Gjennom denne masteroppgaven utforsker jeg muligheter for å skape en tonalitetsfølelse innenfor dissonante rammer. Prosjektet er et kunstnerisk utviklingsarbeid der jeg utforsker temaet gjennom komposisjon innenfor rammene av Olivier Messiaens Modes of limited transposition. Samtidig vil jeg forsøke å definere tonale sentre innenfor disse for å skape et tonalt uttrykk. Arbeidet skal resultere i et album og refleksjoner tilknyttet komposisjonsprosessen.